Two Americas soccer bosses arrested as Fifa corruption scandal deepens
Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay and Alfredo Hawit of Honduras join 14 other officials and sports marketing executives already charged by US authorities with paying and taking bribes
Swiss police arrested the two top soccer bosses in the Americas on Thursday on suspicion of taking millions of dollars in bribes linked to television rights, widening a graft probe into world soccer's governing body.
Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) named the men as Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of the Concacaf federation and a Fifa vice-president, and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, head of the South American soccer federation Conmebol. Concacaf administers soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
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The officials were detained in predawn raids at the behest of the US Department of Justice. The FOJ said it would now ask the United States to submit a formal extradition request within 40 days, which both men had said they would resist.
It said they were alleged to have taken money “in return for selling marketing rights in connection with football tournaments in Latin America, as well as World Cup qualifying matches”.
The raid on the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich echoed arrests at the same place in May that plunged Fifa into crisis.