A FORMER vice president of soccer’s international governing body pleaded guilty to four conspiracy counts Monday in the sweeping FIFA bribery scandal.

    Speaking through a translator, Alfredo Hawit told Judge Raymond Dearie in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn that he had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in connection with a scheme to sell marketing rights to tournaments in Latin America.

    Hawit, 64, is free on bail and next appears in court in October. Each count carries a maximum of 20 years in prison; he also will forfeit US$950,000 upon sentencing.

    Hawit told the judge he had conspired with others to get companies in Florida and Argentina marketing rights in exchange for bribes paid to bank accounts that he and his family controlled in Panama and Honduras.

    “I knew that it was wrong of me to accept such payments,” he said. The plea deal is part of a case involving more than 40 people from around the world. Prosecutors said soccer officials have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal payments in the last 25 years.  (SD-Agencies)