Greek-British Costas Takkas is one of the FIFA officials who were arrested on Wednesday in Switzerland on charges of corruption.
Takkas is a former general secretary of the Cayman Islands football association and has worked as an advisor to CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb. According to the US Department of Justice, the 58-year-old is a British citizen. Since February 2014 is the general manager of financial and accounting services company Abakan Inc.
The officials of football’s world governing body were arrested in Zurich and are expected to be extradited to the U.S. on charges of racketeering, bribery and money laundering.
In a statement on Wednesday, international football’s governing body said: “FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football. We understand that today’s actions by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice on behalf of the U.S. authorities and the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (initiated by FIFA through the submission of the file on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process) relate to different matters.”
According to the FIFA release, the arrests were in relation to activities carried out in relation with soccer federations in South America (CONMEBOL) and North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), as well as for the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.
Fourteen people were arrested in total, not all FIFA officials. Sports marketing executives from the U.S. and South America are also part of the indictment, facing charges of bribery in exchange for media contracts with football tournaments.
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