RIO DE JANEIRO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Corrupt football officials diverted around 150 million US dollars from the accounts of South American football governing body CONMEBOL, according to an internal audit.
In a statement, CONMEBOL said the estimate was the result of a 10-month probe by US-based law firm Quinn Emanuel.
The investigation alleged that corruption at the entity took place from 2000 to 2015, under the leadership of Nicolas Leoz, Eugenio Figueredo and Juan Angel Napout, who have all been arrested on graft charges.
"We have to work in a very open and transparent way to ensure that what has happened at FIFA, CONMEBOL and the federations cannot be repeated," CONMEBOL vice-president Laureano Gonzalez said.
CONMEBOL has been at the forefront of football's anti-graft scandal since late 2015, when scores of its former officials were named in an indictment filed by the US department of justice.
