Brazilian Marin agrees to extradition to US

Former Brazilian Football Confederation president Jose Maria Marin has agreed to be extradited to the United States in connection with the corruption and fraud scandal engulfing FIFA, Swiss prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

The 83-year-old Brazilian was arrested by Swiss police in Zurich along with six other FIFA officials on May 27 on the basis of an arrest request from the United States.

He was accused of having taken bribes worth millions of dollars from sports marketing companies in connection with the sale of marketing rights for the Copa America tournaments for 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023, and for the Copa do Brasil for the period from 2013 to 2022.

He is alleged to have shared these bribes with other football officials.

Marin's lawyers had previously opposed his extradition to the United States, but he has now agreed to it at a hearing on Tuesday," the the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said.

"Under Switzerland's Mutual Assistance Act, the former soccer official must be placed in the custody of a US police escort and taken to the USA within ten days," the FOJ added in a statement.

Like Marin, former FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb also agreed to his own extradition to the United States. He was handed over to the US authorities on July 15.

The five other officials who were arrested in May are still opposing extradition.

Source: AFP