Alejandro Burzaco, Wanted in FIFA probe, Arrested in Italy
BORZANO , Italy, June 9 (UPI) — Alejandro Burzaco, wanted in connection with corruption charges at the soccer organizer FIFA, surrendered to Italian police.
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Burzaco, 50, president of the Argentinian sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias, was one of 14 people named in the U.S. indictment in the FBI investigation of FIFA corruption, racketeering and conspiracy.
The international police organization Interpol authorized his arrest on June 1, and after police sought to arrest and extradite him at a Zurich hotel, he entered a police station in the northern Italian city of Borzano Tuesday, with two lawyers, and gave himself up. He was taken to a jail and later granted house arrest in a nearby residence he had rented.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice claims Burzaco conspired to obtain media rights contracts for regional football matches by paying up to $110 million in bribes. A judge in Argentina, Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi, ordered his arrest after the U.S. indictment.
The judge warned Burzaco and two associates, Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, they would be regarded as fugitives if they did not turn themselves in. The location of the Jinkis’, father and son, is unknown.
Burzaco was dismissed from Toneos y Competencias on June 3, the company denying any involvement with the scandal.
