Swiss freeze USD80m, hand over FIFA case evidence

Swiss authorities have frozen roughly USD80 million worth of assets and handed a batch of bank documents to their U.S. counterparts to be used in criminal proceedings against high-ranking functionaries of soccer’s global governing body, FIFA.
Having received a U.S. request for legal assistance earlier this year, Swiss judicial authorities ordered a large amount of bank documents be collected, according to a statement from the Federal Office of Justice yesterday.
“It relates to bank accounts allegedly used for bribes connected with the grant of marketing rights to soccer tournaments in Latin America and the USA,” it said.
The frozen assets stem from 13 bank accounts, the FoJ said in the statement. They will stay frozen until the legal assistance proceedings have been concluded, and U.S. authorities can then apply for them to be handed over.
FIFA’s problems began with the arrest of seven soccer officials in Zurich in May, part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s indictment of 14 people for bribery, racketeering and money laundering. Two FIFA vice presidents were arrested in Zurich on Dec. 3 as U.S. and Swiss prosecutors widened their investigations into corruption in the sport and more specifically, allegations of bribery in the selection of Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The corruption probe now also includes banks and national sport associations involved in transactions linked to FIFA. Catherine Bosley, Bloomberg