A high-ranking Fifa official has been identified by the FBI as a suspect in a £6.6m bribe paid in return for votes for 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa.
A new indictment from the US Department of Justice refers to the official as ‘co-conspirator 17’. He is not named.
It states he made three payments to the now-disgraced former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner.
The indictment emerged the day after 16 officials were charged by authorities investigating corruption at Fifa.
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Fifa vice-presidents Alfredo Hawit and Juan Angel Napout were among that group and have since been suspended from all football-related activity for 90 days.
The pair were arrested in Switzerland on Thursday at the request of the US authorities, on suspicion of accepting millions of dollars of bribes.
The new indictment states the £6.6m paid was in return for World Cup votes by Warner and his deputy Chuck Blazer, who has pleaded guilty.
In September, Warner was banned from football for life as Fifa’s ethics committee ruled he committed “many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly”.
