The Fifa scandal has taken another improbable twist with the claim that the head of the Chilean FA (ANFP), Sergio Jadue, has resigned his post to become and FBI informer.
Jadue was served with legal papers on Friday that forced him to hand over Chilean FA documents to the local authorities investigating financial misappropriation at the country’s FA.
Hours later the 36-year-old announced he would take a month’s leave for ‘medical reasons’ but on Tuesday night he was pictured boarding a flight to New York, where it is alleged by Chilean newspaper El Mercurio that he intends to become become an informer.
“The trip is confirmed. He traveled to Miami last night,” an ANFP spokesman told Reuters, without providing details about why Jadue traveled.
“He has a special permission for a 30-day medical leave and he continues to be the ANFP’s president.”
Local newspapers quoted unnamed ANFP officials as saying that Jadue was planning to collaborate with the FBI investigation.
“It’s not a holiday,” El Mercurio cited one official as saying. “He is due back May 10 next year. Jadue is traveling as a protected informant of U.S. justice.”
South American confederation CONMEBOL and the sport’s governing body Fifa are reeling from a corruption scandal. Several leading officials were indicted in May in a probe led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption.
