Russia sees FIFA officials' arrest as another extra-territorial application of U.S. law - Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - Many questions have been raised in Moscow over the arrest in Switzerland at the request of the U.S. of high-ranking functionaries from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) following a U.S. court order, Alexander Lukashevich, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has said.
"A group of individuals representing various countries are charged with about half a hundred counts of all sorts of financial machination," he said. "Without delving into the detail of the presented charges, we point out that we are seeing yet another case of illegal extra-territorial application of the U.S. laws," Lukashevich said in a commentary posted on the ministry's website.
"We hope this will by no means be used to cast a shadow on the international football organization as a whole and the decisions that it makes, including human-resources ones," the commentary reads.
The ministry renewed its call on Washington "to stop attempts to administer justice far beyond its borders under its statutory regulations, and to follow the generally acknowledged international-law procedures."
Earlier the Swiss justice ministry opened a criminal inquiry into the way Russia and Qatar were selected as the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA world cups, respectively, Western media reported on Wednesday.
The Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) raided FIFA offices and seized documentation necessary for an inquiry into money laundering in connection with the selection of the 2018 and 2022 world cup hosts.
On Wednesday morning reports emerged about the arrests of several high-ranking FIFA officials. Western media reported that charges were brought against Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Lee, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, Jose Maria Marina and Nicholas Leoz.
The FIFA officials have been indicted for corruption over the past two decades surrounding world cup bids, as well as fraudulent marketing and broadcasting deals. They are also charged with fraud, racketeering and money laundering.
Meanwhile, FIFA spokesperson Walter de Gregorio said that the 2018 and 2022 world cups will go ahead as planned, in Russia and in Qatar, respectively.