More football suspensions

FIFA's ethics committee said Monday Sanz was suspended provisionally on the basis of its own investigations and the "latest facts" presented by prosecutors in New York.

Sanz had been banned "from carrying out any football-related activities at national and international level" on the basis of investigations carried out by FIFA's Ethics Committee and in the wake of corruption charges filed by US authorities, FIFA said.

And, in a separate announcement, FIFA's ethics committee said Congolese federation vice-president, Jean Guy Blaise Mayolas, and its general secretary, Badji Mombo Wantete, had also been suspended pending further investigation.

Leave of absence

CONCACAF, the football confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean, announced last Thursday that it had put Sanz on immediate leave of absence.

The Colombian, who reportedly suffers from leukemia, became CONCACAF's general secretary in July 2012 after working for 15 years as vice president of the media rights and marketing firm Traffic USA.

Last Thursday, Sanz's lawyer, Joseph DiMaria, told Reuters: "Mr. Sanz and his family are focusing on his health issues at this time."

'Co-conspirator #4'

In last Wednesday's US indictment, federal prosecutors referred to an unnamed "co-conspirator #4," who they said, had participated, on Traffic's behalf, in acquiring rights for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) to qualifying matches leading up to the 2018 and 2012 World Cup, before joining CONCACAF.

CONCACAF last Wednesday dropped its president, Jeffrey Webb, who was among seven soccer officials arrested while visiting Zurich ahead of a FIFA congress.

The seven were detained pending extradition requests from the United States related to corruption allegations.

FIFA's annual Congress on Friday culminated in the controversial re-election of the world body's president Sepp Blatter.

ipj/kms (AP, Reutes, dpa, AFP)