FIFA’s ethics commission on Friday called for a life ban from soccer for the former head of the CONCACAF federation and former Honduras federation president Alfredo Hawit on corruption charges.
Hawit was extradited from Switzerland last January to the US to face charges a month after his arrest in Zurich on the fringes of a FIFA executive committee meeting.
US prosecutors have accused the 65-year-old of accepting hundreds of thousands of US dollars in bribes and money laundering in connection with the sale of broadcasting rights for tournaments in Latin America, including World Cup qualifiers when he was secretary-general of the Honduran Football Federation between 2008 and 2014.
Hawit pleaded guilty to charges on four counts of conspiracy and obstructing justice at a Brooklyn court in April last year.
FIFA’s top ethics investigator Cornel Borbely had already called for the former Honduran president Rafael Callejas to be banned from soccer for life for his role in corruption scandals.
After leading the Central American republic of Honduras between 1990 and 1994, Callejas became president of the Honduran Football Association (FENAFUTH) in 2002, and also served on FIFA’s marketing and television committee.
Callejas, who pleaded guilty in March last year, was indicted by the US Department of Justice on fraud and racketeering charges pertaining to broadcasting rights for the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
A judgement will be given by the New York court in January next year, but with his plea bargain he might escape a jail sentence.
FIFA has yet to state when its judgement will be announced.
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