Corruption: FIFA completes internal investigation, transfers evidence to us, swiss authorities

 Football’s governing body FIFA has passed on further evidence to Swiss and U.S. authorities, after completing its internal investigation into alleged corruption. FIFA has been co-operating with law enforcement since May 2015 when its members were arrested in Zurich, Switzerland.

“We have now completed that (22-month) investigation and handed the evidence over to the authorities,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Criminal investigations are already ongoing.
The FIFA president said reports of more than 1,300 pages were produced after the review of more than 2.5 million documents and interviews with “key witnesses”. There were also more than 20,000 pages of exhibits.

These were all shared with the Swiss authorities, according to the governing body’s official. Infantino said the investigation was carried out to “hold wrongdoers within football accountable and co-operate with the authorities’’.

He added: “The authorities will continue to pursue those who enriched themselves.’’ Infantino added that from the findings FIFA would make changes to its internal departments, and this would be revealed at the end of April.

In May 2015, Swiss authorities raided a Zurich hotel and arrested seven people who were among 14 indicted on corruption charges in an inquiry led by the US Department of Justice. In December that year, 16 more officials were charged following the arrest of two FIFA vice-presidents at the same hotel in Zurich.