BRASILIA: A former president of the Brazilian soccer federation is facing charges of money laundering after it was found nearly £100million had passed through his bank account ahead of last year’s World Cup.
Ricardo Teixeira, a long-time powerful figure within football’s world governing body FIFA, resigned from the CBF and as head of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup organising committee in March 2012.
His two-decade-long spell in charge of Brazilian football was dogged by controversy and allegations of corruption, although Teixeira was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Brazil’s Federal Police issued an arrest warrant for the 67-year-old, who no longer lives in the country, after a two year investigation into his global business dealings, according to reports.
While the charges are not part of the corruption scandal engulfing world football, the information collected by Brazilian federal investigators will be of interest to the FBI probe which led to the arrest in Switzerland of seven senior FIFA officials last week.
Warrant for his arrest: The former head of the Brazilian soccer federation Ricardo Teixeira (pictured with disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2006) is facing charges of money laundering after it was found nearly £100million had passed through his bank account ahead of last year’s World Cup
Warrant for his arrest: The former head of the Brazilian soccer federation Ricardo Teixeira (pictured with disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2006) is facing charges of money laundering after it was found nearly £100million had passed through his bank account ahead of last year’s World Cup
Teixeira’s successor as president of the CBF federation, José Maria Marin, was arrested on Wednesday by Swiss police along with six other FIFA executives on indictments for corruption brought by U.S. authorities.
As well as money laundering, Teixeira was also facing charges of tax evasion, forgery and falsifying public documents.
Barcelona football club’s ex-president, Sandro Rosell, a long time friend and associate of Teixeira, was also indicted for the crimes of falsifying public documents and concealment of information.
