Swiss act on FIFA extraditions

Costa Rican Eduardo Li has pleaded not guilty in the US while Eugenio Figueredo will be extradited to Uruguay as the FIFA corruption scandal rolls on.

Switzerland has extradited a former Costa Rican soccer boss to the United States and approved the handover of a former South American federation chief to Uruguay in the latest judicial steps in the corruption scandal that has engulfed the sport.

Costa Rican Eduardo Li was sent to the United States on Friday accompanied by two US police officers, after withdrawing his appeal against extradition, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said.

Li subsequently pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court to corruption charges connected to the ongoing scandal around FIFA.

Li entered his plea in the late afternoon and remains in custody, according to Li's lawyer and a spokeswoman for US prosecutors.

The US Department of Justice issued an indictment in May for Li, accusing him of taking bribes in connection with the sale of marketing rights for 2018 World Cup qualifying games.

Li, a Costa Rican citizen, was one of seven officials from world soccer's governing body taken into custody on May 27 in a dawn raid on a luxury Zurich hotel.

The Swiss FOJ said it would send Eugenio Figueredo - a former head of South America's CONMEBOL soccer body and former FIFA vice-president - to Uruguay, where he is accused of abusing his office for personal gain.

He was also arrested in the Zurich raid as part of investigations led by the United States and Switzerland that span dozens of countries and centre on alleged corruption at the highest levels of the world's most popular sport.

Figueredo had appealed against the FOJ's September 17 ruling to extradite him to the United States, but agreed on November 9, to be sent to Uruguay, the justice office said.

It said it had decided to give priority to the Uruguayan extradition request because "Figueredo could be tried in Uruguay for all of the offences of which he is accused".

"In the USA, the prosecution would cover only some of the charges. For this reason, the FOJ yesterday decided to give priority to Figueredo's extradition to Uruguay."

The FOJ gave no details on the timing of the handover.

CONMEBOL, an influential grouping that includes traditional soccer powers such as Brazil and Argentina, is heavily embroiled in the corruption probe led by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Of 14 soccer officials and sports marketing executives indicted in the United States in May on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges involving more than $US150 million ($A210.75 million) in payments, eight were from South America.

Soccer bosses from across South and Central America were among 16 other people charged on December 3 with multi-million dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights.


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Source: AAP



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