Interpol has placed six people, including two former FIFA officials and four corporate executives, on its most wanted list on racketeering and corruption charges at the request of US authorities.
The former FIFA officials are ex-vice president Jack Warner and former FIFA executive committee member, Nicolás Leoz.
The Red Notices issued by Interpol are not international arrest warrants.
However, they are used by the organisation to inform its member countries that an arrest warrant has been issued for an individual by a judicial authority and who seeks the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action.
Warner is among nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives charged by the US Department of Justice with running a criminal enterprise that involved more than $150m in bribes.
Meanwhile, FIFA President Sepp Blatter is being investigated by US authorities as part of their corruption inquiry into football’s governing body.
Blatter, who announced on Tuesday that he will be resigning from his position, has not been directly implicated in the parallel US and Swiss criminal investigations into FIFA, which were announced last week.
Unidentified US law enforcement officials, however, told the NYT that “they were hoping to win the cooperation of some of the FIFA officials now under indictment and work their way up the organisation” in a bid to build a case against Blatter.
Nine FIFA officials and five business executives were indicted by the US last Wednesday on corruption charges, with seven arrested in Zurich ahead of FIFA’s annual congress on Friday.
Blatter announced his decision to resign on Tuesday, just four days after the congress that saw him win a fifth term as the body’s president.
“I cherish FIFA more than anything and I want to do only what is best for FIFA and for football,” Blatter said at a news conference in Zurich on Tuesday.
“FIFA needs a profound overhaul. I have decided to lay down my mandate at an extraordinary elective Congress.
“I will continue to exercise my functions as FIFA president until that election.”
Domenico Scala, head of FIFA’s independent audit and compliance committee, said there would need to be four months’ notice for any new presidential election.
At the FIFA meeting in Zurich last Friday, Blatter, 79, had been re-elected when his only rival, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, withdrew after gaining 73 votes to Blatter’s 133 in the first round of voting.
A day later, Blatter came out fighting, implying that the US timed the announcement of a major corruption probe to try to scupper his re-election bid.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Office of Attorney General (OAG) has confirmed that it is not investigating Blatter.
Swiss authorities have launched a separate criminal investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups that are set to be held in Russia and Qatar.
No sooner had Blatter announced his decision to resign than English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke raised the possibility that the controversial vote that awarded Qatar the tournament could be rerun.
Qatar World Cup 2022
“If I was the Qatari organisers I wouldn’t sleep very well tonight,” the former TV executive told British media.
In response, Qatar Football Association’s president, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Thani, said in a statement that Qatar had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the FIFA-commissioned Garcia report on corruption.
“Having already cooperated fully with Mr Garcia’s investigation – and been subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing – we welcome the Office of the Swiss Attorney General conducting its own work into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups,” the statement said.
“We would urge Mr Dyke to let the legal process take its course and concentrate on delivering his promise to build an England team capable of winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.”
Former US Attorney Michael Garcia was appointed by FIFA in 2012 with the priority of probing the controversial 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.
He resigned in 2014 after a FIFA judge cleared the World Cup bids, based on his findings – which were never fully released.
At the time, he claimed the judge’s decision contained “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations” of his investigation.
Credit: BBC
