Sth America supports FIFA corruption probe
South American prosecutors have pledged to cooperate in investigations linked to corruption allegations involving senior football officials.
Prosecutors from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay met on Monday in the Ecuadorian coastal city of Guayaquil, amid US investigations into corruption allegations against executives of world governing body FIFA.
The prosecutors agreed to establish a working group to coordinate investigations at regional level to "curb corruption affecting football's administration", Ecuador's chief prosecutor Galo Chiriboga said.
He said it would be appropriate for representatives of the US federal prosecuting authorities be "integrated into the team" looking into the cases.
Dozens of senior South and Central American football and business officials have been indicted in the United States on corruption charges, including three former presidents of South America's confederation CONMEBOL - Juan Angel Napout, Nicolas Leoz and Eugenio Figueredo.
Suspended FIFA vice-president Napout of Paraguay, who was CONMEBOL president until his arrest, was extradited in December to the US.
Paraguay's appeals court has approved the extradition of compatriot and former CONMEBOL president Leoz, while prosecutors have called for a six-year prison term for Figueredo in his native Uruguay.
In Ecuador, a former president of the national federation and two close aides are in custody on money-laundering allegations.
Other officials indicted include the former Peruvian federation president Manuel Burga, who is under arrest and facing a US extradition request, and three former Brazilian football federation presidents.
