Hani Abou-Reida, the only Egyptian member in FIFA's powerful executive committee, will be questioned by Swiss authorities over the vote to choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, according to a British report. The 61-year-old is one of 10 executive committee members who will be asked about “criminal mismanagement and money laundering”, The Guardian quoted the Swiss attorney general as saying. Swiss authorities on Wednesday opened criminal proceedings against individuals on suspicion of mismanagement and money laundering related to the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA soccer World Cups in Russia and Qatar. Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) also said in a statement it had seized data and documents stored in computer systems at FIFA. Subsequent to the seizure of files, the OAG and Swiss police will question 10 people who took part in voting on the hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as members of the Executive Committee in 2010. None of the 10 people have been charged, an OAG spokesman said. Abou-Reida has been a member of FIFA's executive committee since 2009. He voted for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, Egyptian officials said at the time. The OAG said the criminal proceedings, which were opened on March 10, are separate to a U.S. criminal investigation into the allocation of media, marketing and sponsorship rights for soccer tournaments. (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/131325.aspx
