RIO DE JANEIRO: Marco Polo Del Nero, president of the Brazilian football confederation, has admitted he does not feel safe from legal action even in his own country writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Del Nero is the refusenik member of the FIFA executive committee who has refused to attend a meeting since May for fear of being arrested and extradited to the United States if he leaves home; Brazilian citizens are immune from extradition.

Now Del Nero has sought a court order that he should not be arrested or even threatened with arrest if he appears before a parliamentary inquiry into the state of Brazilian football in general and the CBF in particular.

Lawyers for Del Nero have said he wants a guarantee not only of security but protection for his right to remain silent and be advised throughout by his legal team. He also does not want to sign a statement guaranteeing the veracity of his statements.

Del Nero’s self-protection contradict his own excuse for not attending meetings of the world football federation – that he is too busy attending to CBF business.

His lawyers said Del Nero had already been identified as a hostile witness by the inquiry chairman Romario, the former World Cup winner who is a senator.

A statement said: “It is clear that our client is not being treated as a simple witness to the facts but as a suspect.”

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