Another day, another update to the ongoing investigation into the FIFA corruption scandal as Swiss police seized data from the soccer organization's Zurich-based headquarters on Wednesday, including information from the office of outgoing president Sepp Blatter, according to Reuters.
Breaking: Swiss Attorney General office confirms to BBC it "seized IT data" from Fifa hq today.— Richard Conway (@richard_conway) June 10, 2015
According to the BBC, some of the data seized belonged to FIFA's Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and Chief of Finance Markus Kattner.
Other reports indicate that the data seized was related to the portion of the ongoing investigation looking into the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Both countries have denied wrongdoing in their respective bid processes and FIFA has indicated it has no current plans to remove the tournament from either of those countries.
#BREAKING #FIFA says computer details handed to Swiss justice as part of probe into 2018 #Russia and 2022 #Qatar #WorldCup @AFP— Dmitry Zaks (@dmitryzaksAFP) June 10, 2015
The news comes on the heels of FIFA's decision to suspend the bidding process for the 2026 tournament, the next to be awarded. Other bids have also come under scrutiny as part of the ongoing investigation, including allegations that Germany traded rocket-propelled grenades to Saudi Arabia in exchange for a vote for Germany to host the 2006 World Cup.
FIFA officials have staunchly defended themselves, including former VP Jack Warner who unwittingly used a story from satirical publication The Onion to back up an argument and even bought television time in Trinidad & Tabago to make his case. That last move, of course, prompted a similar move by comedian John Oliver, who has been a fierce critic of FIFA in recent months.