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FIFA corruption scandal

Moscow criticizes arrest of FIFA officials as exterritorial application of US law

The US Department of Justice said in its statement earlier in the day that a total of 14 people (9 FIFA officials and 5 corporate executives) were indicted for racketeering conspiracy and corruption

Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow ITAR-TASS/Gennadiy Khamelyanin

Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow

© ITAR-TASS/Gennadiy Khamelyanin

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MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. The arrest of FIFA officials in Switzerland upon a warrant from a US court offers a yet another instance of illegal exterritorial application of US legislation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a comment on Wednesday.

"Without going into details of the charged brought on against the officials, we are calling attention to the apparent fact of a glaring exterritorial application of the US law," it said.

The US Department of Justice said in its statement earlier in the day that a total of 14 people (nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives) were indicted for racketeering conspiracy and corruption. US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said a number of high-ranking officials at the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) have been using their positions to solicit bribes from sports marketers in exchange for the commercial rights to their football tournaments since 1991. In particular, the officials corrupted the process of bidding for the 2010 World Cup that was eventually held in South Africa - the first time the tournament was held on the African continent.

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Foreign policy Russian Foreign Ministry Corruption FIFA FIFA corruption scandal

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