Off the wire
• Kenya's Under-19 rugby side thrown out of C'wealth Games  • 1st Ld: Hong Kong stocks rise more than 4 pct  • Panamanians disappointed at Gold Cup 1-1 draw against Haiti  • Australian unemployment rate relatively steady  • 1st LD-Writethru: China stocks open lower on Thursday  • AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd sentenced to home detention  • Commentary: Greek crisis: Tsipras's "honorable compromise" is desirable  • Researchers uncover love lives of koalas in Australia  • S.Korea's ICT exports rise for 2 months despite flagging overall exports  • Colombian president deems FARC ceasefire as insufficient  
You are here: 　 Home

Conmebol President is "calm" about bribe claims

Xinhua, July 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

President of South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, said on Wednesday that he is "calm" after accusations linked him to a network of corruption surrounding the organization.

"I was always on the side of the law, I am calm," said Napout to radio station Monumental based in Paraguay's capital city of Asuncion, adding that he is happy to "show the numbers."

Napout broke his silence after finding out almost two months ago that the United States were investigating him surrounding a 7.5 million U.S. dollars bribe claim from when he was the president of the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) (2007-2014).

This charge, associated with the sales of the Copa America football tournament's television rights, is linked to the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) corruption scandal. This scandal involves former Conmebol presidents Nicolas Leoz and Eugenio Figueredo among other South American football executives.

"Silence is prudence when they say many things that aren't true," said Napout who preferred not to give details of the claims made by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Napout said that during the Copa America 2015 in Chile he worked in the Conmebol headquarters from morning until night including weekends.

Deputy Conmebol President, Uruguayan Wilmar Valdez, said that the football entity's accounts had not been frozen.

"It is a great crisis but we are coming out of it with clear rules," said Valdez. Endi