FIFA bribery trial kicks off

By Daily Sports on November 14, 2017

Three South American former soccer officials were blinded by greed and accepted millions of dollars in bribes, US prosecutors told the FIFA corruption trial Monday as defense lawyers insisted their wealthy clients were innocent.

Forty-two officials and marketing executives, and three companies were indicted in an exhaustive 236-page complaint detailing 92 separate crimes and 15 corruption schemes to the tune of $200 million.

It was the largest graft scandal in the history of world soccer, first unveiled by US government prosecutors in May 2015 and lifting the lid on a quarter of a century of endemic corruption in the heart of FIFA, soccer’s governing body.

Yet only three of them are going on trial — a trio of once-powerful soccer officials from South America, charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.

Their fate will be decided by an anonymous jury, chosen after documented attempts at intimidation. The 12-member panel with six alternates was selected after four days of screening last week.

“Lurking underneath the surface are lies, greed and corruption,” US assistant attorney Keith Edelman told jurors in opening remarks Monday, recounting a meeting of soccer officials from all over the world at a Miami hotel in May 2014.

“Some of these officials had other reasons to celebrate, they had agreed to receive millions of dollars in bribes regarding the (Copa America) tournament,” he told the federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The most high-profile defendant is Jose Maria Marin, 85, former president of Brazil’s Football Confederation — the sport’s organizing body in one of the premier soccer-playing nations in the world.

Since extradition after his 2015 arrest by Swiss police in a five-star hotel, he has been out on bail, living in luxury at Trump Tower, the Fifth Avenue skyscraper best known for housing the penthouse and company headquarters of the US president.

Also in the dock is former FIFA vice president Juan Angel Napout, 59, and Manuel Burga, who led soccer in Peru until 2014 and once served as a FIFA development committee member. All three have pleaded not guilty. (Vanguard)

•Photo shows Jose Maria Marin, former Brazil FA president.

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 14, 2017


 

You may also like...
Chiellini Signs New Juventus Deal

Iheanacho tastes action as Man City zoom close...

Nigeria change travel plans, off to Zambia Saturday...

‘Special’ Kane Fetches Another Victory For Tottenham With...

NANPF sends SOS to NFF EXCO over welfare...

Ighalo opens 2016/17 Premier account, ends goal drought...

 

Latest News CAF awards: Ajibade, Nnadozie, Edo Queens bag nominations Lagos SWAN, PAACC Hold SWAN Day At Golfview Hotels, Ikeja Crisis looms as Eagles’ form raises AFCON, W’Cup concerns Ex-Nigerian Super Falcons player handcuffed, children assaulted as police storm Anambra Football Academy Sports NFF, teammates console Nwabali on father’s death Abia Govt hails Nigeria Olympic Committee over staging an admin course in Umuahia Libya deliver Eagles 2025 AFCON ticket Eagles battle Cheetahs for 2025 AFCON ticket Yellow Greens gear up for T20 W’Cup qualifiers Tyson tips Fury to beat Joshua Sadiq absent as 22 Eagles train in Abidjan Eagles’ striking trio hot for Cheetahs, Amavubi clashes

 

Most Read Rangers International going, going . . . (55,163 views) Amaju Pinnick: A cat with nine lives (46,307 views) Second Term: Amaju Pinnick, Other NFF Heavyweights Home to Roost •How Pinnick Broke the Jinx (44,370 views) Missing $150,000 IAAF Grant: Solomon Dalung’s Hide and Seek game (44,015 views) Sports Development: Zenith Bank on the zenith (43,948 views) Current issues in Nigerian sports: Matters arising (43,904 views) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje’s solid footprints, commitment to sports development in Kano State (43,742 views) NFF Presidency: Pinnick, Maigari, Ogunjobi, Okoye in Battle for Supremacy (43,311 views) Olopade, BET9A wave of revolution in NNL (42,366 views) Commonwealth Games 2018: Shame of Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Dalung (41,054 views) Ibrahimovic’s Man U exit: Whose decision is it? And in whose interest? (39,506 views) John Mikel Obi: Segun Odegbami’s Outrageous Call! (38,931 views)

 

Phone numbers

Tel: +234(0)8066020976
+234(0)8055068145
+234(0)7013416146
+234(0)8094272884

Email addresses

info@dailysportsng.com
support@dailysportsng.com
publisher@dailysportsng.com

Office address

No 3, Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.dailysportsng.com

Social Media