Hawit, left, was arrested in Zurich in early December
Keystone
Another world football official arrested in Switzerland on corruption charges will be extradited to the United States. FIFA Vice President Alfredo Hawit of Honduras agreed to extradition, the justice ministry says.
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Hawit, who is also the head of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, is the fourth of nine individuals arrested in Zurich last year to agree to be handed over to the US.
Following the arrests of seven FIFA officials in May 2015, Hawit was one of two others arrested in December in Zurich. The other man arrested in December was FIFA Vice President Juan Angel Napout, who agreed to be extradited to the US on December 15.
Hawit and Napout were among 16 football officials charged by US prosecutors earlier in December with taking part in multi-million-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights linked to football tournaments in Latin America.
Two separate legal investigations into FIFA corruption and bribery are underway in the US and in Switzerland.
While the US authorities focus on marketing and sponsoring rights for football tournaments in the Americas, the Swiss justice authorities are examining the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup to Russia and Qatar respectively.
The Swiss have also opened an investigation into FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who was recently banned from football for eight years by FIFA’s ethics court, along with his potential successor, Michel Platini.
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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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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…
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