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Ex-FIFA vice president Hawit extradited to US

Xinhua, January 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Former FIFA vice president Alfredo Hawit has been extradited to the US to answer corruption charges, authorities said on Wednesday.

The 64-year-old Honduran, who was arrested in Zurich on December 3, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from 2008 to 2014.

According to a US justice department indictment, he has been charged with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses.

Prosecutors have described him as a "serious risk of flight" and requested his bail be set at a minimum of 4 million US dollars.

The FBI said Hawit, who has been suspended as president of Concacaf - the body that governs football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean - was due to appear in a New York court on Wednesday.

Hawit is the fifth FIFA official extradited from Switzerland to the US on corruption charges.

The Zurich-based entity has been rocked by allegations of fraud, bribery and money laundering since Swiss police arrested seven of its officials in May.

In June, FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced he would resign, just days after he was reelected to a fifth term. Endit