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Washington - A senior U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official said on Friday he is "fairly confident" there will be another round of indictments in the criminal investigation into alleged corruption within soccer's governing body, FIFA, the New York Times reported.
Several senior FIFA figures have been indicted in bribery and kickback schemes, although no charges were brought against FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who was re-elected on Friday.
"I'm fairly confident that we will have another round of indictments," Richard Weber, the chief of the IRS unit in charge of criminal investigations, was quoted as saying by the Times.
The newspaper reported that Weber would not identify the remaining targets of the U.S. investigation or say whether Blatter was among them.
"We strongly believe there are other people and entities involved in criminal acts," Weber was quoted as saying by the Times.
U.S. authorities said on Wednesday that nine officials and five sports media and promotions executives were charged in cases involving more than $150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years. They said their investigation exposed complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.
An IRS spokesman confirmed that Weber made the remarks and said "the case is open and ongoing," adding Weber was reiterating earlier comments by Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
"We never discuss timing or specifics of ongoing cases. The intention with those comments was to say that it is fair to say that this is the beginning, as has been readily reported," the spokesman said.
