A number of top Fifa officials have been arrested in Zurich on corruption charges brought by the United States Justice Department.
More than a dozen Swiss policemen swept into the five star Baur au Lac hotel in the early hours of the morning, where several officials were believed to be staying ahead of this week's Fifa Congress meeting.
Swiss Police confirmed that six officials were arrested in the morning raid, on charges of widespread corruption involving World Cup tournament bids and lucrative broadcast deals.
Arrest warrants were issued at the request of the US Attorney's Office which has conducted an investigation into alleged corruption at Fifa.
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On Friday, members of the Fifa Executive Committee are due to vote on the next president at the 65th Annual Congress with current incumbent Sepp Blatter widely expected to retain his position.
Sepp Blatter has not been arrested.
Allegations of corruption have long plagued football's governing body over its decision to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.
A statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice explained:
"By order of the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ), six soccer officials were arrested in Zurich today (Wednesday) and detained pending extradition. The US authorities suspect them of having received or paid bribes totalling in the USD millions
"The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day. The bribery suspects - representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms - are allged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to soccer functionaries of Fifa sub-organizations - totalling more than $100m. In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America. According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks."
The law enforcement official said the soccer officials charged are Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz.
Comments
It was fascinating to get the Portuguese man on the streets opinion on the Sunday Times investigations a couple of years ago using journalists to fake being 'bungers for votes'. Which triggered the later larger mishandled investigation.
The Portuguese angle being " Gee; like wow - not possible here. Would be an instant Defamation case for our journalists to be offering money to say our politicians. Then writing how they had their hands bitten off ... "