BRASILIA: Marco Polo Del Nero has failed in an attempt to protect himself from arrest if he faces a Brazilian parliamentary inquiry into the murky finances of the country’s football confederation.

Del Nero is the member of the FIFA executive committee who has not dared leave the safety of Brazil to attend any of four meetings since last May when he fled Switzerland for fear of arrest in the United States’ FIFAGate investigation.

Now he is concerned he may not even be safe in Brazil where he assuned the presidency of the CBF in succession to Jose Maria Marin – currently on bail in the US – early this year.

Del Nero has been notified that he will be summoned to appear before the parliamentary investigation but not when. He is also aware that he will deemed a hostile witness and had sought an order from the Supreme Court that he should not be asked to give evidence on oath or be arrested.

However the Supreme Federal Court ruled that Del Nero’s application was “manifestly inadmissable” because no scheduled date had been set.

Del Nero has long been a target for Romario, the former World Cup winner who is now a senator and heads the inquiry into the CBF.

Last week Romario succeeded in obtaining permission to extend his inquiry for a further six months.

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