<h3 style="text-align: justify"><strong><em>The number of alleged money laundering transactions linked to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups bids won by Russia and Qatar has ballooned from 53 to 81, a spokesman for Switzerland's chief prosecutor told AFP on Sunday.</em></strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify">The Swiss justice authorities have received new instances of alleged money laundering almost on a daily basis since the attorney general Michael Lauber announced on June 17 an initial 53 cases to be looked into.</p> . <p style="text-align: justify">"I do confirm that OAG (office of the attorney general) received as of today 81 suspicious activity reports trough the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS)," the attorney-general's spokesman Andre Marty told AFP.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"All reports are related to the OAG's investigation into the allocation of the Football World Cups 2018 & 2022."</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Marty, though, did not give details nor the amounts of accounts already frozen by the department with relation to tihs affair.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">These revelations come three weeks after Lauber said the 53 "suspicious" cases had been reported by banks and that a "huge and complex" inquiry into football's world body could take months if not years.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Officials said the 53 are individuals and companies and that each case could involve many more transactions.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"We note positively that banks in Switzerland did fulfil their duties to file suspicious activity reports," he told a press conference.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"Partly in addition to the 104 banking relations already known to the authorities, banks announced 53 suspicious banking relations via the Anti-Money-Laundering-Framework of Switzerland," he added.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Swiss authorities have set up a special task force to look into the World Cup bids.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">It is one of two major fraud investigations that have rocked FIFA.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">US authorities last month charged 14 people in a separate bribery investigation.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Lauber said he "does not exclude" questioning FIFA boss Sepp Blatter or general secretary Jerome Valcke, although neither is currently under suspicion.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">He said nine terrabytes of data had been seized, including at FIFA's Zurich headquarters and the probe would take time.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"The world of football needs to be patient... By its nature, this investigation will take more than the legendary '90 minutes'," that a football match takes, said Lauber, who has just been re-elected for a four-year mandate.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Lauber said he did not feel under pressure with the next World Cup in Russia just three years away.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">"I don't care about the timetable of FIFA, I care about my timetable," he said.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Senior FIFA official Domenico Scala has said there could be a revote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups if there was evidence of wrongdoing in the bidding process.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"><strong>By AFP</strong></p>