25 FIFA BRIBE PROBES

PROSECUTORS in Switzerland are carrying out 25 separate investigations into suspected corruption linked to FIFA and World Cup bidding, it emerged yesterday.

The office of attorney general Michael Lauber confirmed the scale of their inquiries after securing the first conviction since their FIFA probes started in 2014. Cases were not specified but criminal proceedings are open against former officials Sepp Blatter and Jerome Valcke.

Jorge Arzuaga, a former employee of Swiss private banks, this week admitted conspiring with ex-FIFA finance chairman Julio Grondona and others in a moneylaundering conspiracy linked to bribes.