Uruguayan judge confiscates ex-FIFA official's properties

Montevideo: Uruguayan judge Adriana de los Santos, who specialises in tackling organised crime, has seized nine properties in the South American country belonging to Eugenio Figueredo, former president of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) and the South American football confederation (CONMEBOL).

Figuredo is being investigated on corruption charges for his alleged involvement in money laundering and racketeering among other charges. Figueredo had properties in the South American country with an estimated value of $5 million, reports Xinhua.

The properties were seized at the request of prosecutor Juan Gomez and consists of four properties in the exclusive Punta del Este resort and five in one of the most expensive areas of the country's capital.

A Uruguayan court of appeal recently permitted authorities to continue investigating the 83-year-old Figueredo, who was vice-president of CONMEBOL between 1993 and 2013 and took up the role of president of AUF during this time as well (1997-2006). In 2013-2014 he was president of CONMEBOL and since 2014 he has been the vice-president of FIFA.

Figueredo was arrested on May 27 in Switzerland along with other FIFA members, all accused of corruption by the United States justice system. He is being investigated in Uruguay for a claim made by local football clubs in 2014 surrounding his handling of TV rights for the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.

Uruguayan businessman Francisco 'Paco' Casal offered $805 million for TV rights to these tournaments while CONMEBOL gave the rights to the company T&T for $381 million, according to the claim. T&T director Alejandro Burzaco is under house arrest in Italy awaiting extradition to the US to face similar corruption charges to Figueredo.