Zurich : Six soccer officials, including some high ranking members of world governing body FIFA, were arrested by Swiss police on Wednesday and detained pending extradition to the United States.
The arrests were made shortly after a dawn at a Zurich hotel where FIFA officials are staying ahead of this week’s FIFA presidential election. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) released a statement saying the six officials, who were not formally named, were suspected by US investigators of having received or paid bribes totaling millions of dollars. The FOJ also confirmed that FIFA president Sepp Blatter was not among those arrested. “The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of NewYork is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks between the early 1990s and the present day,” the statement said.
