Prosecutors probe 53 �suspicious� FIFA cases

AFP, BERN (SWITZERLAND): Swiss prosecutors are investigating 53 cases of possible money laundering as they look into FIFA’s handling of bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, officials said Wednesday.
Attorney general Michael Lauber said the “suspicious” cases had been reported by banks and that a “huge and complex” inquiry into football’s world body could take months if not years.
Officials said the 53 are individuals and companies and that each case could involve many more transactions.
Swiss authorities have set up a special task force to look into the World Cup bids – which went to Russia for 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
It is one of two major fraud investigations that have rocked FIFA.
US authorities last month charged 14 people in a separate bribery investigation.
Nine terabytes of data had been seized, including at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters and the probe would take time.

Prosecutors probe 53 �suspicious� FIFA cases

AFP, BERN (SWITZERLAND): Swiss prosecutors are investigating 53 cases of possible money laundering as they look into FIFAs handling of bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, officials said Wednesday. Attorney general Michael Lauber said the suspicious cases had been reported by banks and that a huge and complex inquiry into footballs world body could take months if not years. Officials said the 53 are individuals and companies and that each case could involve many more transactions. Swiss authorities have set up a special task force to look into the World Cup bids which went to Russia for 2018 and Qatar in 2022. It is one of two major fraud investigations that have rocked FIFA. US authorities last month charged 14 people in a separate bribery investigation. Nine terabytes of data had been seized, including at FIFAs Zurich headquarters and the probe would take time.