South American football governing body CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout resigns
Saturday 12 December 2015 10:50, UK
Juan Angel Napout has resigned as president of CONMEBOL, the South American football governing body has revealed.
Napout, from Paraguay, was arrested last week in Zurich as part of the ongoing investigation into alleged corruption within FIFA. He was given a provisional 90-day ban by FIFA's ethics committee.
The 56-year-old was elected as Paraguayan Football Association president in August 2007 and served for seven years before taking the CONMEBOL presidency, initially on an interim basis.
He was elected in March of this year for a full term, scheduled to run until 2019, and was also appointed as a vice-president of FIFA.
Napout and his fellow FIFA vice-president Alfredo Hawit, president of North and Central American governing body CONCACAF, were among 16 new officials indicted on December 4 as part of a conspiracy accused of corruption offences totalling £130m.
CONMEBOL vice-presidents Luis Bedoya and Sergio Jadue, presidents respectively of the Colombian and Chilean football federations, both resigned last month and pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy. CONMEBOL general secretary Jose Luis Meiszner is also among those indicted.
The statement on CONMEBOL's website following its executive committee meeting continued: "It has been decided to deepen the implementation of the measures of transparency and control to ensure effective and rigorous management of economic operations and operational processes of CONMEBOL already initiated in this period.
"In this sense, Mr Daniel Elicetche, auditor and internationally recognised consultant, has been appointed independent director of the Internal Audit and Compliance Commission of CONMEBOL.
"It has also approved the integration of the Commission on Legal Affairs, with the participation of all member associations, whose main objective is to propose and study the reform of the statute and regulations of CONMEBOL."
