FIFA has assured that it is investigating complaints of alleged sexual abuse and harassment by two Colombian referees, a case that a little over a year ago caused great commotion in the country but whose investigation was archived.
The issue is being discussed again by a complaint by The Guardian newspaper, which includes the statements of former referee Harold Perilla, who claims to represent several alleged victims of Óscar Julián Ruiz, FIFA instructor, and Imer Machado, head of arbitration of the Colombian Federation Football (FCF).
The journalist Romain Molina, one of those who led the investigation of the British newspaper, spoke to Caracol Radio about his findings.
“The case was archived by the Prosecutor’s Office years ago, but now new evidence has been presented, they request the unfiling of those documents. We are talking about 11 victims and more than 40 witnesses in the case of Óscar Julián Ruiz, and in the case of Ímer Machado there are more than 14 witnesses, in Machado we are not talking about minors, in Ruiz there are minors among the victims,” he explained.
“The accusations are solid, above all there is the confirmation of people who saw what happened, I don’t think so many people, from all sides and in all those years…”, he added.
His surprise during the investigation was total: “I have all the evidence, the first time I tried to read it I couldn’t finish it, it’s so horrible that it was a bit complicated. The details are disgusting, and many people confirm that. They went to parties, they got drunk people and they took advantage of them. There are conversations with other referees that confirm what happened with Harold Perilla, today it is in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office,” he asserted.
The journalist revived the complaint that former Colombian referee Harold Perilla made at the time: “The case in Colombia is one of the most serious and solid that I have seen in my life, I don’t know why the Prosecutor’s Office has filed it, they have never said that they haven’t done it,” he concluded.
