GENEVA, Switzerland – The Swiss Justice Ministry will rule next month on the extradition requests filed by the United States against six FIFA officials who have been accused of corruption, a spokesman said Monday.
Jorge Hidalgo, acting president of the Costa Rican Football Federation, FEDEFÚTBOL, told the website AmeliaRueda.com that U.S. prosecutors are “mistaken” and that there was nothing inappropriate about a $27,500 wire transfer cited in the indictment as proof of wrongdoing.
The acting president of the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), Jorge Hidalgo described the news of Eduardo Li’s arrest as shocking, and “like the Turrialba Volcano finally erupted on all of us.”
Following the early-morning arrest Wednesday of several FIFA leaders, including Costa Rican Eduardo Li, in a massive corruption probe spearheaded by the United States Justice Department, Costa Rica has now opened a money laundering probe into Li's assets here, a high-ranking Costa Rican justice official told The Tico Times.
The newspaper’s cover referred to Dinnia Díaz – the goalkeeper of the Costa Rican Women’s National Soccer Team, which just qualified for the Women’s World Cup for the first time in history – as “Keylar.” (This allusion to renowned male Costa Rican keeper Keylor Navas is roughly akin to referring to a women’s basketball star as “Michelle Jordan.”)
