The U.S. Department of State sent to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) the request to extradite seven functionaries of the International Federation of Association Football suspected of corruption, Joinfo.ua reports referring to Reuters.
The FOJ said it would rule on the extradition requests within a few weeks, based on statutory hearings and the responses of the FIFA officials.
Under a bilateral treaty, U.S. authorities had up to 40 days to file an extradition request, which all seven of the officials had previously said they would contest.
Proceedings under the treaty are relatively straightforward, even if the defendants have the right to appeal along the way, legal experts say.
It should be recalled that on May 27 in Zurich, several high-ranking FIFA officials were detained on suspicion of corruption, including FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Eduardo Lee, Julio Roca, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, and Jose Maria Marin. A number of officials were charged, including Jack Warner, the former president of CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) and FIFA Vice President in the recent past, as well as Nicolas Leoz.
FIFA functionaries arrested indicted a total of 47 articles.