El Salvador arrests ex-football boss for US extradition
Reynaldo Vasquez detained after Supreme Court approves US request for extradition over alleged links to corruption.
El Salvador’s former football federation president, Reynaldo Vasquez, who is wanted in the United States in connection with a probe targeting alleged corruption in the sport, has been arrested, police said.
The arrest occurred on Wednesday.
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Earlier this month El Salvador’s Supreme Court approved the extradition of Vasquez, who headed the Salvadoran football federation, FESFUT, between 2009 and 2010.
“We have detained Reynaldo Vasquez,” deputy police director Howard Cotto said via Twitter.
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Vasquez is wanted in connection with five cases of alleged bribery linked to commercial deals for the broadcasting of qualifying games for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
In previous interviews with local media, Vasquez has described the allegations as “absurd” and was seeking legal advice.
Meanwhile, the head of Brazilian football, charged with corruption by US prosecutors, stood his ground amid sometimes hostile questioning in the US Congress on Wednesday, insisting he was not involved in the global scandal surrounding the sport.
“People can be indicted but they have the right to defend themselves and I am going to prove the American indictment is a big mistake,” Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) President Marco Polo Del Nero told senators.
“I have been unjustly accused,” he said at an inquiry into football-related corruption.
Del Nero was charged by US prosecutors earlier this month with participating in schemes designed to solicit and receive millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to sell media and marketing rights for football tournaments and matches.
His predecessor as CBF president, Jose Maria Marin, is in jail awaiting trial on similar charges and Ricardo Teixeira, another former president of the CBF from 1989 to 2012 and a former FIFA executive committee member, was also charged.