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Ecuador's former soccer federation president summoned to trial

Xinhua, May 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ecuador's Attorney General has summoned to trial the former president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF), Luis Chiriboga, who is being investigated for alleged money laundering, announced the Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.

Chiriboga has been under house arrest since December 2015, when the Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation after the former soccer executive was linked to the FIFA corruption scandal, brought to light by the United States' justice system.

The Ecuadorian attorney, Diana Salazar, also summoned to trial the former FEF treasurer, Hugo Mora, and the federation's former accountant, Pedro Vera for their alleged involvement in the corruption case.

Former FEF secretary, Francisco Acosta, was acquitted from the case since "according to reports and surveys, the income in his accounts are related to his activities."

The Public Prosecutor's Office added that Salazar had asked for precautionary measures to be ratified for when Chiriboga is on trial such as house arrest and banning him from leaving the country.

The attorney also asked that Chirboga's assets, as well as the other former executives implicated in the case, be held in custody by control agencies as established by the law.

The United States' justice system included Chiriboga, who headed FEF for 18 years, in the so-called "FIFA Gate" case which is investigating officials and senior managers from the international soccer entity due to alleged acts of corruption in selling television rights, accepting bribes and influence peddling.

On Tuesday, Ecuador's justice system sentenced FEF's former coordinator and head of logistics, Vinicio Luna, to one year in prison with a 64,800-dollar fine, within the same case of asset laundering that Chiriboga and the other two former FEF officials will stand trial against.

Luna, who has been in custody since December 2015, underwent an abbreviated procedure which benefited the accused with a reduced sentence due to the time he has already spent behind bars, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office. Endit