JUSTICE SERVED
Former CONMEBOL boss Napout jailed for nine years in US
THE former head of the South American football confederation CONMEBOL, Juan Angel Napout, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the sweeping FIFA corruption scandal — a tough punishment the judge said should deter others tempted by easy money.
The sentencing of the 60-yearold Napout came just a week after the former boss of Brazilian football, Jose Maria Marin, was jailed for four years in connection with the same case.
“There’s a need for general deterrence because there was, and perhaps there is still, corruption in international football,” federal Judge Pamela Chen told the courtroom as she delivered the sentence.
Wearing a beige prison jumpsuit, Napout implored the judge: “I want to ask for your compassion. I want to ask for your mercy.”
But Pamela said it was important to send a message “that you cannot steal millions in bribes from football organisations and go unpunished... that there are real consequences, that you’ll go to jail and it won’t be a slap on the wrist.”
Napout, who was also once the head of Paraguayan football, was also ordered to pay a US$1 million fine and return the $3.3 million (RM4.11 million) in bribes that he pocketed.
He was found guilty on Dec 22 on three counts in connection with bestowing television and marketing rights for major events in exchange for lucrative kickbacks.
He was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, but was acquitted on two counts of money laundering conspiracy.
“He had a hidden character, a hidden life... perpetuating the notion that he was a good guy but all the while taking bribes,” Pamela said during a marathon five-hour hearing.
US prosecutors have lifted the lid on a quarter of a century of endemic corruption in the heart of FIFA, football’s governing body, and on the largest graft scandal in the world’s most popular sport.
In total, 42 officials and marketing executives, as well as the sports company Traffic, were indicted with corruption crimes totaling more than US$200 million.
The 2017 trial of Napout and the 86-year-old Marin exposed not only the corruption, but the life of privilege, luxury and excess enjoyed by members of FIFA’s executive committee.
Prosecutors detailed a high-flying lifestyle for the sport’s bigwigs: personal chauffeurs, private jets, luxury hotels, meetings in idyllic resorts in the Bahamas or Mauritius, and cruises on the Danube for families.
Prosecutors said Napout deserved less mercy than Marin as he was “among the most culpable” among all those indicted. They had sought a 20-year sentence.
He was “personally responsible for perpetuating and expanding the corruption of football at a