Police arrest president of Spanish soccer federation amid corruption probe
- hace 7 años
Madrid, Jul 18 (EFE).- The president of Spain's soccer federation, his son, and the organization's vice president were arrested Tuesday amid a corruption investigation ordered by the country's national court, prosecutors said in a statement supplied to EFE.
The charges pressed against Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Ángel María Villar and his son, Gorka Villar, included private corruption, forgery, criminal mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and asset stripping.
"During the operation, the Civil Guard (gendarmerie) is carrying out several raids and searches at the RFEF's headquarters, at the Tenerife soccer federation, at businesses and at private residences linked to those arrested," Spain's prosecutor's office said in the statement.
Villar has headed the governing body for Spanish soccer since 1988, while his son Gorka was the general director of the South American soccer confederation (CONMEBOL) between 2014-16.
The RFEF's economic vice president, Juan Padrón Morales, was also taken into custody as part of the so-called "Operation Soule" against alleged corruption at the highest levels of Spanish soccer.
The arrests were ordered by National Court magistrate Santiago Pedraz on the recommendation of anti-corruption prosecutors Inmaculada Violán and Esther González, following three months of telephone surveillance and a year-long investigation by the Civil Guard's economic crimes unit.
The judge had uncovered evidence that those arrested could have derived personal benefit at the expense of the federation, a judicial source told EFE.
Wiretapped phone conversations allegedly showed the suspects conniving to fix lucrative deals, with the RFEF's president allegedly awarding contracts to companies with ties to his son for their own self-enrichment and to the federation's detriment.
The RFEF allegedly set up dozens of friendly international matches between the men's national team and other countries in which Gorka, a sports lawyer, made large profits.
In 2015, Gorka was accused by Uruguay's state prosecution of extorting Uruguayan soccer clubs while he led the CONMEBOL.
The clubs had previously denounced his alleged sale at an unfairly low price of their television rights in South American international championships, so he allegedly retaliated by threatening the teams and disqualifying their presidents from being elected to posts within the CONMEBOL.
Padrón, who also heads the regional soccer federation of Tenerife (Canary Islands), was accused of diverting RFEF funds in exchange for kickbacks and jointly misappropriating funds from the regional federation along with its secretary general, Ramón Hernández Baussou, who was also arrested Tuesday on the island.
"Laws must be obeyed, everyone is equal before the law and no one is above the law," Spain's minister of education, culture and sport, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, told Spanish state broadcaster TVE upon learning of the arrests.
The charges pressed against Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Ángel María Villar and his son, Gorka Villar, included private corruption, forgery, criminal mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and asset stripping.
"During the operation, the Civil Guard (gendarmerie) is carrying out several raids and searches at the RFEF's headquarters, at the Tenerife soccer federation, at businesses and at private residences linked to those arrested," Spain's prosecutor's office said in the statement.
Villar has headed the governing body for Spanish soccer since 1988, while his son Gorka was the general director of the South American soccer confederation (CONMEBOL) between 2014-16.
The RFEF's economic vice president, Juan Padrón Morales, was also taken into custody as part of the so-called "Operation Soule" against alleged corruption at the highest levels of Spanish soccer.
The arrests were ordered by National Court magistrate Santiago Pedraz on the recommendation of anti-corruption prosecutors Inmaculada Violán and Esther González, following three months of telephone surveillance and a year-long investigation by the Civil Guard's economic crimes unit.
The judge had uncovered evidence that those arrested could have derived personal benefit at the expense of the federation, a judicial source told EFE.
Wiretapped phone conversations allegedly showed the suspects conniving to fix lucrative deals, with the RFEF's president allegedly awarding contracts to companies with ties to his son for their own self-enrichment and to the federation's detriment.
The RFEF allegedly set up dozens of friendly international matches between the men's national team and other countries in which Gorka, a sports lawyer, made large profits.
In 2015, Gorka was accused by Uruguay's state prosecution of extorting Uruguayan soccer clubs while he led the CONMEBOL.
The clubs had previously denounced his alleged sale at an unfairly low price of their television rights in South American international championships, so he allegedly retaliated by threatening the teams and disqualifying their presidents from being elected to posts within the CONMEBOL.
Padrón, who also heads the regional soccer federation of Tenerife (Canary Islands), was accused of diverting RFEF funds in exchange for kickbacks and jointly misappropriating funds from the regional federation along with its secretary general, Ramón Hernández Baussou, who was also arrested Tuesday on the island.
"Laws must be obeyed, everyone is equal before the law and no one is above the law," Spain's minister of education, culture and sport, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, told Spanish state broadcaster TVE upon learning of the arrests.