December 30 – Rafael Esquivel, one of the original ‘Zurich Seven’ arrested last May in the first crackdown by the US Justice Department on FIFA-related corruption, is to remain in custody in Switzerland after losing his latest request to be allowed to be held under house arrest.
The 69-year-old former CONMEBOL vice-president has now had two requests for release turned down whilst under detention in Switzerland citing health problems.
Instead, he still faces extradition to answer corruption, fraud and money-laundering charges in the $200 million scandal though he is pushing for the right to be sent to his native Venezuela rather than to the US.
Equivel’s lawyer told San Juan newspaper El Universal: “The public prosecutor can request that Esquivel be tried in Venezuela” adding that if there was no evidence on which to proceed against him back home, “why have his assets been seized?”
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