By Paul Nicholson
December 3 – Alfredo Hawit and Juan Angel Napout, arrested this morning in dawn raids at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, have both opposed their extradition to the US after hearings given to the Zurich cantonal police this morning.
Hawit, president of CONCACAF, and Napout, president of CONMBOL, are both FIFA executive committee members and were in Zurich for the final exco meetings of the year. They were arrested on behalf of the Swiss federal office of justice following US arrest requests that were submitted to the Swiss November 29.
A Swiss statement says: “The high-ranking FIFA officials are alleged to have taken the money in return for selling marketing rights in connection with football tournaments in Latin America, as well as World Cup qualifying matches. According to the arrest requests, some of the offences were agreed and prepared in the USA. Payments were also processed via US banks.”
Having refused extradition to the US, the Swiss will now ask the US to submit formal extradition requests within 40 days, the deadline laid down in the bilateral extradition treaty between the two countries.
Once the requests are received the Swiss will resume extradition proceedings.
Having seen their confederation colleagues arrested in May, it is hard to understand how Hawit and Napout thought they would be beyond US law enforcement and prosecution if they had accepted millions of dollars of bribes, particularly in light of the indictments already making their way through the US court system in New York.
Of the seven arrested in May, Jeffrey Webb and José Maria Marin eventually agreed to simplified extradition proceedings and were transferred to the US July 15 and November 3, Eugenio Figueredo, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas and Rafael Esquivel opposed their extradition to the US, and their appeals against the FOJ’s rulings for extradition are pending before the Swiss Federal Criminal Court.
The Swiss and US justice authorities have been working together on the investigations following US requests for bank account information. The Swiss justice authorities said it “froze a series of accounts at Swiss banks through which it is alleged the bribes were routed. It has also obtained the corresponding banking documents.”
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