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Forty eight hours before the FIFA elections scheduled for Friday, May 29, at least six high-ranking FIFA executives including the vice-president were arrested this morning during a dramatic dawn raid at a five-star hotel in Switzerland.
They were arrested over allegations of bribery totalling more than £60m over the past 25 years.
Daily Mail reports further:
More than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss police officers arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich at around 6am before storming the rooms where senior officials from the world football’s governing body were staying.
Members from the executive committee were then led away by police through the side exit of the hotel, with many using bedsheets to shield themselves from the public eye.
The most significant arrest was that of Jeffrey Webb, the vice president of the executive committee, who has previously been hailed by Sepp Blatter as the potential successor to the position of FIFA president.
Among the other FIFA members arrested in the dawn raid were Eugenio Figueredo, the Uruguayan football executive who was due to stand down from the world governing body after Friday’s election.
Another taken out of the Baur au Lac hotel with a sheet over his head was Worawi Makudi of Thailand, another FIFA Executive Committee member also set to step down on Friday.