ZURICH — Swiss authorities dramatically announced yesterday that criminal proceedings had been opened over the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
The revelation came just hours after six high-ranking Fifa executives were arrested yesterday morning during a dramatic dawn raid at a five-star hotel in Switzerland over allegations of bribery totalling more than £60 million ($100 million) over the past 25 years.
Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney-General later said it was investigating “persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money-laundering” in connection with Fifa’s decision to award the 2018 and 2022 tournaments to Russia and Qatar respectively.
It said officials had also seized data and documents stored in IT systems at Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich.
Earlier, more than a dozen plain-clothes Swiss police officers arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich at around 6am before storming the rooms where senior officials from the world football’s governing body were staying.
Members from the executive committee were then led away by police through the side exit of the hotel, with many using bed sheets to shield themselves from the public eye.
The timing of the arrests was explosive — coming just two days before the Fifa presidential election, which has already been dogged by controversy and claims of corruption.
Sepp Blatter, who is widely expected to win a fifth term at the helm, is now actively lobbying for a postponement of tomorrow’s ballot, according to Fifa insiders, although this is expected to be opposed by his one and only opponent, Prince Ali Bin al Hussein of Jordan.
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The most significant arrest was that of Jeffrey Webb, the vice-president of the executive committee, who has previously been hailed by Blatter as a potential successor.
Among the other Fifa members arrested in the dawn raid were Eugenio Figueredo, the Uruguayan football executive who was due to stand down from the world football governing body after tomorrow’s election.
Other officials held by Swiss police include Eduardio Li, president of the Costa Rica Football Association.
Former vice-president Jack Warner was also arrested in relation to corruption in the bidding process for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Although Swiss authorities said six officials had been arrested, the New York Times reported that 14 officials had been charged on the United States indictment.
Other suspects named include Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz.
The paper also reported that charges are expected to be brought against a number of sports marketing executives who allegedly acted as intermediaries to facilitate illegal payments.
They include Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis.
Authorities also charged José Margulies as an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.
Electronic data and documents were also seized in a raid on Fifa’s headquarters, Swiss prosecutors confirmed.
Blatter and its general secretary Jerome Valcke are not implicated in a corruption probe underway into the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the organisation’s spokesman said yesterday.
“The general secretary and the president are not involved in this,” spokesman Walter De Gregoria told a hastily-arranged Press conference.
He also said that the Fifa congress to vote for who would be its president for the next four years would go ahead as planned in Zurich tomorrow.
The US Justice Department, meanwhile, unsealed an indictment against nine Fifa officials and five executives, charging them with conspiracy and corruption over a 24-year span.
The Department of Justice said it unsealed the indictment as officials raided the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) headquarters in Miami as part of the case.
“It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks,” Attorney-General Loretta Lynch said in the Justice Department statement about the charges.
A statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said the arrests took place on request of the US authorities.
A spokesman said: “The six soccer functionaries were arrested today (yesterday) in Zurich by the Zurich Cantonal Police. The FOJ’s arrest warrants were issued further to a request by the US authorities.
“The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks between the early 1990s and the present day.
“The bribery suspects — representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms — are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries — delegates of Fifa (Federation Internationale de Football Association) and other functionaries of Fifa sub-organisations — totalling more than $100 million.
“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.” — Online
