Friday, December 4th of 2015. The Swiss government asserted that the arrests in FIFA continue, after the detainment of both American Football Federation presidents, suspected of having received millions of dollars in bribes related to television rights contracts, according to a statement by the Swiss Justice Office.
The Honduran Alfredy Hawit, President of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, along with the Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, President of South-American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL); were arrested this Thursday in a Zurich hotel.
“The most ranking FIFA officers stand accused of having received money for selling marketing rights of several football tournaments in Latin-America, and also qualifier matches for the World Cup”, according to the Swiss authorities’ statement.
As soon as these detainments were known, FIFA warned that it will continue to collaborate with the investigation led by USA and Switzerland; in what is considered one of the biggest scandals in the football federation. Concacaf also released a statement asserting that it’s aware of the arrests in Zuirich, its own President Hawit among them, and mentioned it “will keep cooperating to the biggest extent with all government authorities in their investigations”.
The statement also asserts that “presently, Concacaf is not in conditions to make further comments about the actual charges”; this is undoubtedly about the bogus dealings that continue shaking global football.
The bust in “Baur au Lac” hotel is similar to the arrests performed in the same place in May, arrests which brought to light the corrupt administrations of some of FIFA’s officers; making FIFA fall in a deep crisis. Thus, these new detainments could mean the escalation of corruption scandals.
Consequently, Concacaf made a series of structural reforms in its institutional organization, with the objective of putting aside people who could be deep in dishonest dealings. According to a Federation spokesman, FIFA’s Executive Committee meeting started this Wednesday, looking to continue “as planned” from 09h00 (08h00 GMT), to develop a reform plan within its administration.
Francois Carrard, President of the Reform Commision, also participated in the conference, explaining that: “FIFA is going through a great crisis, but this crisis represents a unique opportunity to set off for change and the beginning of a new era”.
The series of reforms will be put to a vote among the several national federations next February 26th in Extraordinary Congress, looking to leave behind all the past corrupt administrations by the world’s football leaders.
ALFA