Fifa corruption arrests: Six senior executives including vice president Jeffrey Webb to face US federal charges after raid on Switzerland hotel
Charges relate to alleged corruption over the last two decades
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Your support makes all the difference.Six high-ranking Fifa officials have been arrested in Switzerland on corruption charges and are awaiting extradition to the US. Fifa vice president Jeffrey Webb is believed to be among them.
Swiss police carried out the early morning raid at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, escorting the executives out peacefully.
In a statement, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said the US charges related to alleged widespread corruption in Fifa over three decades worth more than $100 million.
The New York Times reported the charges as including wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, and named the 14 indicted Fifa officials.
Among the officials, not all of whom were in Zurich, were Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, president of Concacaf.
The executives were in Switzerland for an election on Friday, when Fifa president Sepp Blatter is expected to be elected for a fifth term. Mr Blatter is not understood to be one of the executives charged.
The head of Ireland’s Football Association said yesterday that he would not be backing Mr Blatter in Friday’s election.