By Andrew Warshaw
January 14 – Former FIFA vice-president Alfredo Hawit has pleaded not guilty in a Brooklyn court just hours after being the latest suspect extradited to the United States to face charges relating to FIFA’s multi-million dollar bribery scandal.
The 64-year-old acting CONCACAF chief, who has been suspended by FIFA from all football activities, entered a plea of not guilty through his lawyer. US prosecutors allege that he accepted millions of dollars in bribes in connection with the sale to various sports marketing firms of marketing rights to football tournaments in Latin America while general secretary of the Honduran soccer federation between 2008 and 2014.
He faces 12 counts of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses.
Hawit, wearing a smart suit, looked pale and tired as he listened to proceedings with the help of a court-appointed interpreter. His lawyer told the court that he was suffering from serious health problems including pancreatitis which he had difficulty managing when detained in a Swiss prison following his initial arrest on December 3 in Zurich when, ironically, he was just about to participate in a meeting on cleaning up FIFA.
The court in Brooklyn was told he had “serious digestive problems” and required a no-fat diet, which was not provided in his Swiss prison, where he existed on cornflakes and honey bought from the jail commissariat.
His legal team asked that Hawit be released to home detention with electronic monitoring at his daughter’s house in Miami without financial guarantee. The Hawits, it was argued, were of limited means. However, prosecutors described Hawit as a significant flight risk and demanded that bail be posted at $4 million – guaranteed by either $500,000 in cash or US property.
If released, Hawit would have to surrender his passport and agree not to communicate with any co-defendants. He is due back in court later today when conditions for bail will be discussed further.
Hawit was the fifth FIFA official extradited by Switzerland to the United States in connection with the deepening crisis that has rocked Fifa since May and which has led to the downfall of Sepp Blatter and his former heir apparent, Michel Platini, both suspended by FIFA judges for eight years over ethics violations. Switzerland extradited a sixth suspect, another former CONMEBOL president, Eugenio Figueredo, to his home country of Uruguay.
At least 13 other suspects are fighting extradition, including four in Argentina, three in Switzerland and the most notorious of them all, former FIFA vice president Jack Warner from Trinidad and Tobago. Altogether 41 individuals and entities have so far been charged in the probe of corruption spanning the globe that has cast a giant shadow over next month’s FIFA presidential election to replace Blatter.
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