Britain''s Serious Fraud Office said on Friday it was examining "material in its possession" related to the FIFA corruption scandal following allegations that illegal payments were routed through British banks. "The SFO continues actively to assess material in its possession and has made plain that it stands ready to assist ongoing international criminal investigations," the SFO said in a statement.
The SFO declined to comment further on the case. The United States unveiled a years-long international investigation after seven football officials were arrested in Zurich in dawn raids Wednesday by Swiss police at the request of the US authorities. Switzerland has also opened an investigation.
A US indictment charges 14 football officials and marketing executives with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies. Three banks with British headquarters - HSBC, Standard Chartered and Barclays - were named in the indictment that outlined how tens of millions of dollars were hidden in offshore accounts. Barclays and HSBC declined to comment, while Standard Chartered said: "We are aware that two payments cleared by Standard Chartered are mentioned in the indictment. We are looking into those payments."
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