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29 March 2024

FIFA scandal: Ex-president of Peruvian Football Federation arrested

This combination of file photos shows South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) regional officials implicated in the bribery and corruption scandal engulfing FIFA. The officials were named in a statement released by the US Justice Department on December 3, 2016. Left to right from top row are Juan Ángel Napout, current FIFA vice president and Executive Committee member; Manuel Burga, current member of the FIFA Development Committee; Carlos Chávez, current CONMEBOL treasurer; Luís Chiriboga, current Ecuadorian soccer federation president; the CONMEBOLS logo; Marco Polo del Nero, current president of the Brazilian soccer federation; Eduardo Deluca, former CONMEBOL general secretary; José Luis Meiszner, current CONMEBOL general secretary; Romer Osuna, current member of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee; Ricardo Teixeira, FIFA Executive Committee member. (AFP)

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By AFP

The former president of the Peruvian Football Federation, indicted in the Fifa corruption scandal, was arrested late Friday on an international arrest warrant, and protested his innocence as he was taken away.

Manuel Burga was taken into custody in the capital Lima as he left his house, insisting he would clarify the allegations against him.

Burga is among 16 men whose indictments were announced Thursday in Washington amid a widening multi-million dollar corruption scandal engulfing Fifa.

They are all from the South American Football Federation (CONMEBOL) and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).

"I am calm... I have not received any bribes," Burga told Channel N from the back seat of a vehicle into which he was placed by police.

"I was waiting, I was informed that they would be coming."

Minutes before the arrest, Interior Minister Jose Perez had told reporters that Burga was wanted on an international arrest warrant.