FIFA officials arrested in Zurich on US corruption charges: NYT

ZURICH: Authorities in Zurich on Wednesday launched an operation to arrest several high-ranking FIFA officials on corruption charges and extradite them to the United States, the New York Times reported.

The Times, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, said the US federal charges include racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud and span two decades of misconduct in soccer's world governing body. More than 10 officials were expected to be indicted, the newspaper reported.

The officials are in Switzerland for the FIFA Congress, where incumbent Sepp Blatter faces a challenge from Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in a presidential election on Friday.

FIFA spokesman Walter de Gregorio and Delia Fischer, another spokeswoman for the governing body, were unable to be contacted for verification of the report.

The paper said more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived at Zurich's Baur au Lac hotel early on Wednesday, took keys from the registration desk and headed up to the rooms.

One FIFA official was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel, the Times said, adding that officials from the body's powerful executive committee were being targeted.

"We're struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did," the Times quoted an unnamed law enforcement official as saying.

"It just seemed to permeate every element of the federation and was just their way of doing business. It seems like this corruption was institutionalized."

 ................................. Times of India