FIFA ex-VP Figueredo jailed pending Uruguay trial

Fallen FIFA vice president Eugenio Figueredo was jailed pending trial in his native Uruguay Thursday after being extradited from Switzerland to answer charges in the massive corruption scandal roiling international football.
Figueredo, the former president of South American confederation CONMEBOL, arrived Thursday morning and was taken directly to an initial court appearance, where he was remanded in custody, court sources told AFP.
But Judge Adriana de los Santos may still grant him house arrest, as his lawyer has requested, the sources said.
Figueredo faces two to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The 83-year-old ex-football boss was one of seven top FIFA officials arrested at a Zurich luxury hotel in May, a raid that kicked off an unprecedented crisis at world football's governing body.

The United States, which led the investigation, is also seeking to extradite Figueredo on charges of soliciting multi-million-dollar bribes from sports marketing firms.

Figueredo had agreed to be sent to Uruguay but is fighting extradition to the United States. The Swiss justice ministry (FOJ) had approved his extradition to both countries, and said in November it would be up to the United States to decide whether to let Uruguay have priority.
"If the US authorities do not agree, the issue will be decided by the FOJ," it said at the time.
Figueredo's lawyer has said her client is in poor health and should be granted house arrest because of his age.

Figueredo was head of the Uruguayan Football Association from 1997 to 2006 and became CONMEBOL president in 2013.
The FIFA vote is meant to be secret but Prince Ali and
another candidate, Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA executive, had raised suspicions that delegates would photograph their ballots to prove they had kept promises to back selected candidates.
- Vote promises switched -
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The AFC, with 47 votes, and 54-member Confederation for African Football (CAF) have both said they will back Sheikh Salman, a 50-year-old senior member of Bahrain's royal family.
But while embarking on final lobbying in Zurich, Infantino told AFP he believed he has swayed African votes in his favour. Infantino went on a whistle-stop African tour before heading to the congress.

"I am confident and I have reason to be even more confident," Infantino said. "The discussions I have had with the presidents of African federations have been very convincing."
Infantino said he had a reform programme with "very concrete proposals, notably for Africa."
Infantino hs vowed to more than double aid to FIFA's 209 members to $5 million each over four years from about $2 million now.
Rivals including Sheikh Salman have said his plan could bankrupt FIFA.
Sheikh Salman strongly denied claims made in the British parliament late Tuesday by a lawmaker, Damian Collins, that he was involved in a "cash-for-votes" scandal when elected AFC chief in 2013.

Collins, a member of Britain's ruling Conservative Party and a campaigner for better governance in sport, said there were "strong grounds to suspect" the Kyrgyz Republic's delegation to the AFC voted for Sheikh Salman in the belief they would receive "significant financial support" for football projects from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
The OCA is headed by an ally of the Sheikh.
"Sheikh Salman has and had no knowledge whatsoever of any inducements offered, or of any payments made by the OCA to any football associations and absolutely no evidence has been forthcoming to show this to have been the case."

The Sheikh has also had to deny allegations of involvement in human rights abuses during a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in 2011.
While the result of Friday's election remains in doubt, the Sheikh suffered a new blow when FIFA's executive committee recommended Wednesday that Kuwait and Indonesia be barred from voting Friday. Both are suspended from FIFA over government interference in sport.