FIFA Corruption Scandal May Lead to Extradition of Former Honduran President to US
During Bill Clinton's administration, Rafael Callejas was once an honored guest at the White House. But if U.S. prosecutors have their way, the former Honduran president may soon find himself in an American jail cell because of his suspected links to the FIFA corruption scandal.
The U.S. government has already made a formal request to Honduras to extradite the man who led the Central American country from 1990 to 1994, Reuters reported. Officials in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa acknowledged on Thursday that they had received the request citing an American indictment over alleged multi-million dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights.
Authorities in Honduras have already said that they would freeze bank accounts belonging to Callejas and Alfredo Hawit, the acting president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), one of soccer's regional governing bodies, the newswire noted. Hawit has been arrested in Zurich, Swiss officials announced on Thursday.
"Today, the government of the United States has asked for the extradition of the citizen Rafael Leonardo Callejas," an official Honduran communique summarized, according to the local newspaper El Heraldo. "The government of Honduras reiterates its commitment to continue its tireless fight against impunity. It reaffirms that nobody is above the law, and, in that spirit, has affirmed toward the government of the United States of America its readiness to collaborate according to the law."
Callejas, for his part, acknowledged his predicament in a press conference on Thursday, El Heraldo added.
"I face a very serious accusation, and I have to worry about countering it. My priority are not legal matters, everything else is secondary," the former president admitted. "All of this information that is coming out has caught me by surprise. (But) that is part of the legal process, and I do not have concerns in that sense."
The FIFA corruption scandal has drawn wide circles ever since the U.S. Department of Justice indicted more than a dozen soccer officials on corruption charges in May. The defendants are accused of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy, among other charges.
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