NEW YORK: A sprawling US bribery prosecution that has scandalised football’s governing body took another step forward on Tuesday, with the former president of Honduras and a former FIFA vice-president pleading not guilty at their first court appearance and authorities announcing that two other defendants would be extradited to face charges as well.

Rafael Callejas, who was president of Honduras from 1990 to 1994 and later became president of its soccer federation, flashed a thumbs-up to someone in the audience as he left a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Callejas, a current member of FIFA’s television and marketing committee, was ordered held without bail.

A judge agreed to release Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, a FIFA vice-president and former president of the South American confederation CONMEBOL, on $20 million bond with various restrictions, including electronic monitoring and home detention.

His next hearing will be on March 16.

Both men are facing racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud charges for their alleged roles in a bribery scheme involving lucrative broadcasting and hosting rights for the World Cup and football’s other biggest events.

Their lawyers left the courtroom on Tuesday without speaking to reporters.

Callejas’ appearance came after Hond­uras officials say he decided to travel to the United States on the advice of his lawyers.

Napout had consented to extradition from Switzerland, where he was arrested on Dec 3 alongside fellow FIFA vice president Alfredo Hawit of Honduras.

FIFA, keen to be seen as cleaning up its act, suspended both for 90 days.

The two were among 16 new defendants, most from Central and South America, named in a revised indictment that was unsealed earlier this month.

US prosecutors charged 14 others, including seven top FIFA officials arrested at Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, in May.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that two of the original 14 — Nicolas Leoz, another former head of the South American football confederation, and Eduardo Li, former head of the Costa Rican football federation — would be extradited to the United States.

A Paraguay appeals court approved Leoz’s extradition, while Li withdrew his appeal and agreed to depart Switzerland and be turned over to US authorities.

The indictment alleges that in 2012 a marketing firm wired $500,000 to a Panama bank account so it could be paid as bribes to Callejas and another football official in exchange for broadcasting rights to qualifier matches for the 2022 World Cup.

The indictment identified Napout as a member of a bloc of football officials known as the “Group of Six” that would receive annual bribes in exchange for supporting FIFA contracts with another marketing firm.

Napout is charged with soliciting bribe payments from two sports marketing firms to secure his support for awarding commercial rights to football tournaments including the popular Copa Libertadores.

In parallel investigations, Swiss and US authorities are focusing on whether business contracts and the World Cup hosting rights for 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar were won with the help of bribery.

The schemes described in the Dec 3 indictment involved over $200 million in bribes and kickbacks sought for marketing and broadcast rights to tournaments and matches.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2015