Yahoo – AFP,
9 June 2015
 |
A member of
Interpol is seen speaking with staff at the headquarters of Torneos y
Competencias during a raid in Buenos Aires on May 29, 2015 (AFP Photo)
|
Rome (AFP)
- Argentinian sports marketing executive Alejandro Burzaco, who has been
indicted by US authorities in the FIFA corruption scandal, turned himself into
police in Italy on Tuesday.
Burzaco,
50, was held in Bolzano, near Italy's northern border with Switzerland after
"turning up spontaneously" at a police station with his two lawyers,
police said in a statement.
Burzaco was
briefly detained in a cell and was then allowed to leave the police station but
placed under house arrest, Italian news agency AGI reported.
The
Argentinian, who also has Italian citizenship, had already rented a house near
Bolzano in expectation of being placed under house arrest, reports said.
Burzaco's
whereabouts had been a mystery since seven FIFA executives were arrested in the
Swiss city of Zurich on May 27, the eve of a FIFA Congress.
According
to reports, Burzaco was in the hotel where the executives were cuffed and
promptly disappeared in the knowledge he was likely to be on the indicted list.
It is
believed he was not in his hotel room at the time because he was having
breakfast.
He is one
of 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives indicted
over the scandal. He had been placed under an Interpol "red notice".
The 14 are
accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going
back 20 years involving a total of $150 million (133 million euros) in bribes.
 |
Members of
Interpol are seen at the headquarters of Argentine sports
broadcaster Torneos y
Competencias during a raid in Buenos Aires on
May 29, 2015 (AFP Photo)
|
'Bribes
for TV rights'
Burzaco is
wanted by the US Department of Justice authorities in connection with his role
as president of sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias.
The US
authorities suspect him of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to win
and retain the media rights contracts for football tournaments in Latin
America.
The Torneos
y Competencias company held the television rights for the Argentinian league
between 1992-2009 and in association with Aaron Davidson, president of Traffic
Sports USA who was arrested in Zurich, and another company, Full Play, hold the
rights for the Copa America tournament which kicks off in Chile next month.
The
whereabouts of Full Play owners, Argentinian father and son Hugo and Mariano
Jinkis, are unknown.
The
revelations have thrown the world of football into turmoil and led to the
resignation of long-serving FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week, just four
days after his re-election for a fifth successive term.
USA head
coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a World Cup-winning striker for West Germany in 1990,
said Tuesday he expects there to be more revelations in the scandal.
"If
there is one thing I know for sure, when the American authorities have
evidence, then they see things through and more things will come out,"
Klinsmann said in Cologne ahead of a friendly match against Germany.
"The
whole world is wishing that FIFA will be cleaned up and those who comply will
do things differently in the long term."
 |
Businessman
Burzaco, wanted over FIFA scandal, surrenders
|
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.