By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Just days after being arrested as part of the new wave of US justice department indictments in the FIFA corruption scandal and then suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee for 90 days, Paraguay’s Juan Angel Napout has tendered his resignation as president of CONMEBOL.
Napout was one of two FIFA vice-presidents arrested in Zurich at the request of US authorities along with fellow FIFA vice-president Alfredo Hawit on suspicion of accepting millions of dollars in bribes.
They were among 16 current and former senior football officials indicted on December 4 bringing to 41 the number of individuals and entities – such as sports marketing companies – charged to date in the burgeoning crisis.
Napout took over the CONMEBOL presidency on an interim basis last year, was appointed on a permanent basis in March and was expected to serve until 2019. He has agreed to be extradited to the United States to fight his case.
CONMEBOL, which has seen virtually an entire generation of federation leaders wiped out by the corruption scandal, has moved quickly to organise Napout’s replacement which will tale place at a full congress session next month.
“With the resignation of Mr Juan Angel Napout as president, the congress was convened for the election of officers [president and vice-presidents] for 26 January 2016,” a CONMEBOL statement read.
“The acting (presidency) of CONMEBOL shall be exercised by Wilmar Valdez until the date of the aforementioned congress,” it continued.
Napout’s resignation is the latest in a string of embarrassments for CONMEBOL. Last month two of the confederation’s vice-presidents, Luis Bedoya and Sergio Jadue, also the presidents of the Colombian and Chilean federations respectively, resigned and pleaded guilty to racketeering and wire fraud conspiracy.
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