By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – Just when FIFA’s executive committee thought it was safe to return to Zurich for their final meeting of the year – an event that would climax with the eagerly anticipated unveiling of FIFA’s new (and game-changing) reform proposals – football’s now habitual party poopers from the US justice authorities unleashed a second tsunami on the world governing body.
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch (pictured) unveiled a blockbusting – actually a South and Central American-busting – superseding 92-count indictment naming 16 new defendants in what has easily become the biggest corruption case ever to hit the sport.
This new set of superseding indictments follow on from the tumultuous events in May that brought proceedings against 14 federation, FIFA and sports marketing executives who were charged on 48 counts of bribery, corruption and money laundering charges.
The new defendants include CONCACAF interim president Alfredo Hawit and CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout who were arrested at their Zurich hotel this morning. Also on the new list are former Panamanian FA president Ariel Alvarado, a current member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee, and former CONMEBOL treasurer Romer Osuna who is a currently member of the FIFA audit and compliance committee.
Current CONMEBOL general secretary José Luis Meiszner is indicted, as is former FIFA executive committee member and Guatemalan soccer federation president Rafael Salguero.
Of the indicted officials, 12 have been or are presidents of their national federations in Central or South America. Five of them were serving or had served on FIFA’s executive committee.
A total of 11 current and former members of FIFA’s executive committee have now been charged in the investigation.
Lynch said that the “superseding indictment also expands the bribery and corruption charges set forth in the original indictment unsealed last May” and that this was still an on-going investigation.
It is clear that the US Department of Justice still has FIFA very much in its sights even if it has so far not managed to indict its suspended president Sepp Blatter or any other executives from outside the north, south and central American regions.
But it is the unveiling of the scale of the alleged corruption that has been lurking so close to the surface and touching so many senior federation and confederation officials that is mind-boggling. In her press conference Lynch didn’t hold back.
“The new charges unsealed today highlight corruption schemes previously involved in Central and South America and sports marketing companies based in South America and the United States, consistent with the intergenerational nature of the corruptions schemes,” said Lynch.
“They involve payments related to tournaments that have already been played, as well as matches scheduled into the next decade, including multiple cycles of FIFA World Cup qualifiers and international matches involving six Central American associations…
“Not content to hijack the world’s most popular sport for decades of ill-gotten gains, these defendants, as alleged, sought to institutionalise the corruption, to make sure it lived on, not for the good of the game but for their own personal aggrandisement. This illustrates the depths as well as the persistence of their corruption.”
“The betrayal of trust set forth here is outrageous,” said Lynch. “The scale of corruption alleged herein is unconscionable.”
In addition, the Justice Department announced that eight more guilty pleas were unsealed including three of those indicted in May: CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb, and sports marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, former CEO of Torneos y Competencias, and broadcast specialist Jose Margulies.
Webb is currently on bail and restricted to his home in Georgia. He has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and three counts of money laundering conspiracy. He has agreed to forfeit more than $6.7 million.
Richard Weber, Chief, Criminal Investigation at IRS (United States Department of the Treasury), commenting on the complexity of the investigation said: “These cases have been nothing short of one of the most complex financial investigations ever conducted…The defendants come from over 20 different countries and we have traced funds through at least 40 different countries in the course of this investigation, It is indeed the World Cup of fraud,”
Indicted officials, 3 December 2015
CONCACAF Region
Alfredo Hawit: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member and CONCACAF president; former CONCACAF vice president and Honduran soccer federation president (arrested in Switzerland)
Ariel Alvarado: Current member of the FIFA disciplinary committee; former CONCACAF executive committee member and Panamanian soccer federation president
Rafael Callejas: Current member of the FIFA television and marketing committee; former Honduran soccer federation president and president of the Republic of Honduras
Brayan Jiménez: Current Guatemalan soccer federation president and member of the FIFA committee for fair play and social responsibility
Rafael Salguero: Former FIFA executive committee member and Guatemalan soccer federation president
Héctor Trujillo: Current Guatemalan soccer federation general secretary and judge on the Constitutional Court of Guatemala
Reynaldo Vasquez: Former Salvadoran soccer federation president
CONMEBOL Region
Juan Ángel Napout: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member and CONCACAF president; former Paraguayan soccer federation president (arrested in Switzerland)
Manuel Burga: Current member of the FIFA development committee; former Peruvian soccer federation president
Carlos Chávez: Current CONMEBOL treasurer; former Bolivian soccer federation president
Luís Chiriboga: Current Ecuadorian soccer federation president and member of the CONMEBOL executive committee
Marco Polo del Nero: Current president of the Brazilian soccer federation; resigned from FIFA executive committee on November 26
Eduardo Deluca: Former CONMEBOL general secretary
José Luis Meiszner: Current CONMEBOL general secretary
Romer Osuna: Current member of the FIFA audit and compliance committee; former CONMEBOL treasurer
Ricardo Teixeira: Former Brazilian soccer federation president and FIFA executive committee member
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