South American Football Federation CONMEBOL HQ raid by Paraguayan police
The police of Paraguay have raided the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) headquarters, situated near the country’s capital Asuncion.
Reports suggests that the raid was a part of the investigations against Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)’s corruption.
Juan Angel Napout, CONMEBOL president was arrested and extradited to the United States last month to face charges of taking millions of dollars in bribes. Mr. Napout has pleaded “not guilty”.
The state prosecution of Paraguay has stated that they were "searching for documentation related to the granting of commercial and broadcast rights for sporting events".
Alfredo Montanaro, lawyer of CONMEBOL has tagged the event as “irresponsible”.
"It is very strange. We have been cooperating with the judicial authorities of the United States, Uruguay and Paraguay." Montanaro said, as reported by BBC.
The 57-year-old Napout was also the vice-president of FIFA. He was arrested on Dec. 3, 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland. He resigned as the CONMEBOL president following the arrest on Dec. 11, 2015.
Napout has been charged with taking bribes relating to the distribution of television rights of various South American football tournaments.
Meanwhile, Hector Trujillo, former general secretary of Guatemala’s football federation has been arrested in the US following charges of corruption. Trujillo has been allowed bail on conditions of his house arrest.
Trujillo has to wear an electronic device all the time through which he can be monitored and has to stay within the limits of 50 miles (80 km) from a courthouse in Brooklyn.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating FIFA since Russia was awarded the World Cup hosting rights in 2018 followed by Qatar in 2022.
The enquiry has spread its wings since then to FIFA’s financial dealings over the last 20 years. The US has stated that all the planning of corruption was done on its soil and US banks were used for money transfers.
CONMEBOL has 10 South American Football associations under it. Of the 10 association presidents, only Sebastian Bauza of Uruguay has been able to avoid charges of corruption by the FBI.
