Top South American football official Jose Luis Meiszner, one of the latest figures indicted in the corruption scandal rocking FIFA, turned himself in Wednesday in his native Argentina.
Meiszner was the secretary general of South American federation CONMEBOL until his indictment by US prosecutors last week alongside 15 other top Latin American soccer officials, the latest twist in the massive corruption saga at world soccer’s governing body.
TV images showed Meiszner, 69, turning himself in alongside his son and his lawyer at a courthouse in the city of Quilmes, where he was formerly president of a first-division soccer club.
“What we’ve currently got is an arrest warrant with generic and potential accusations that Meiszner was allegedly involved in an organization to commit information technology crimes. There’s nothing concrete,” his lawyer, Luis Daer, told journalists.
Daer said his client had heart problems and depression, and had requested house arrest pending a decision on extraditing him to the United States.
He said there was “no room for doubt” that Meiszner had been accused by Argentine sports marketing executive Alejandro Burzaco, one of the 14 people originally indicted in the FIFA scandal in May.
Burzaco was extradited to the United States after being detained in Italy.
He is accused of bribing FIFA and CONMEBOL officials for the exclusive broadcast rights to the Argentine national team’s tournament matches.
The scandal over allegations of multi-million dollar bribes for the awarding of tournament hosting rights and broadcast contracts has upended FIFA, leading to the suspension of long-time president Sepp Blatter and a string of other top officials.
