Blatter (left) congratulates Napout on his appointment as president of CONMEBOL in March 2015
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FIFA Vice President Juan Angel Napout has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face charges in a football bribery case, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said on Tuesday.
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Napout, who is from Paraguay and president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), agreed to be extradited at a police hearing on Tuesday. He was arrested along with Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation (CONCACAF), in a pre-dawn police raid at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich last week.
The pair were among 16 football officials charged by US prosecutors on Thursday with taking part in multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights linked to football tournaments in Latin America.
The 57-year-old official must be collected by American authorities within 10 days.
“No details concerning when he will be handed over are to be disclosed for reasons of security and privacy,” the Swiss ministry said.
On Friday, Napout and Hawit were also banned from football for 90 days.
Napout, who was elected in March, became the third straight head of the South American confederation – following Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay – to be indicted. Leoz is fighting extradition from his native country and Figueredo has been detained in a Zurich-area jail since May.
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Justice department announces more FIFA charges
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The United States Justice Department has announced charges against 16 additional world football officials after further arrests took place on Thursday in Zurich.
Those charged include five current and former members of FIFA’s executive committee, which met later in the day to announce reforms to the world governing body. In total, nearly a dozen people who have served on that committee have now been charged with corruption.
“The betrayal of trust that is set forth here is truly outrageous,” Lynch said of the charges against FIFA executives.
Among those charged on Thursday were Marco Polo del Nero, a Brazilian who served on the executive committee from 2012 until last week; Rafael Salguero, a Guatemalan who left the executive committee in May; former South American confederation secretary general Eduardo Deluca; former Peru soccer federation president Manuel Burga; and current Bolivian soccer president Carlos Chaves, already jailed in his own country.
Lynch also said the United States would seek to extradite Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay and Alfredo Hawit of Honduras following their arrests in Zurich Thursday morning at the Baur au Lac hotel.
She continued that eight defendants in the corruption investigation have now plead guilty to the charges.
Lynch also thanked Swiss authorities who she said had been “instrumental” in the ongoing investigation.
More to follow.
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The executive committee met just hours after two FIFA officials were arrested as part of an investigation into corruption at the organisation, a probe led by the United States. Despite losing two members, the rest of the committee voted unanimously in favour of a series of changes to the organisation. It decided to re-name itself…
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Alfredo Hawit, president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and vice-president of FIFA; and Juan Angel Napout, president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and a FIFA official, both had extradition hearings on Thursday morning. The US will now have to submit formal requests within 40 days to…
Attorney General opens criminal proceedings against Blatter
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The Swiss Attorney General's office has opened criminal proceedings against outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter. He is being investigated on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.