Monday 1 June 2015 21:09, UK
FIFA has provisionally banned CONCACAF general secretary Enrique Sanz from any football-related activities, as its Independent Ethics Committee assesses evidence from the US criminal investigation into football's world governing body.
In addition, two Congolese officials, FA vice-president Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas and general secretary Badji Mombo Wantete have also been provisionally banned.
CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb and his associate Costas Takkas were among seven soccer officials arrested in Zurich on Wednesday, two days before FIFA's annual Congress.
They are being detained pending possible extradition to the United States on corruption charges.
In all, U.S. authorities said nine officials and five sports media and promotions executives were charged in cases involving more than £100m in bribes over a period of 24 years.
Their investigation has reportedly exposed complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.
Colombian-born Sanz, who had held the post since 2012, had already been sent on leave by CONCACAF last Thursday.
An unidentified co-conspirator listed in last week's indictment fits the description of Sanz's work history.
In a statement released on their website, FIFA say that “on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, today provisionally banned the official Enrique Sanz from carrying out any football-related activities at national and international level."
The news was swiftly followed by another press release which revealed a similar fate for the two members of the Congolese FA.
It read: "The chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, today provisionally banned the vice-president, Mr Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas, and the general secretary, Mr Badji Mombo Wantete, of the Congolese Football Association (FECOFOOT) from carrying out any football-related activities at national and international level, in accordance with art. 83 par 1 of the FIFA code of ethics."
