Ramón Jesurún lost a lawsuit against a million-dollar penalty for reselling tickets in the World Cup qualifiers in Russia

The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca upheld the ruling issued by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) against the president of the Colombian Football Federation (FCF), Ramón Jesurún; the president of Difútbol, ​​Álvaro González Álzate, president of Difútbol, ​​and the general secretary of the FCF, Andrés Tamayo, for the irregularities that occurred in the delivery of the million-dollar contract for managing the sale of tickets for the final matches of the Colombian National Team in the final stretch of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

In the judgment of second instance, the Court determined that Jesurún, González and Tamayo They had direct participation and responsibility in awarding the contract to the TicketShop company, which had neither the expertise nor the knowledge to handle this type of issue.

In the analysis of the case, it is indicated that the leaders “participated and actively collaborated in promoting the contract awarded to Ticket Shop”. With the evidence collected, it is noted that “they never exercised control or reply to the situation that revolved around the massive resale of tickets that, as explained, was fully known to the members of the Colombian Football Federation.”

Individualizing each of the conducts, it is defined that “Ramón de Jesús Jesurún Franco, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Colombian Football Federation, participated in the favoring acts for the award of the contract in question. He was part of the people who received the offers presented, whose information ended up being known by the representatives of Ticket Ya y Ticket Shop”.

The boss of the Colombian Football Federation clarified that in an express meeting the decision was made to award the aforementioned contract “despite not being the best offer presented. As president of the Colombian Football Federation, he held meetings with the representatives of Ticket Ya, despite the fact that they were not the winners of the contract, a circumstance that demonstrates full knowledge of the way in which the ticket office contract was being executed.

Despite being a leading member of the Colombian Football Federation and to his knowledge, he never took any action to prevent the massive diversion of ballots. As demonstrated, he was part of the group that led the collusive scheme in the present case”, highlights the Court, which rejected all the claims of the lawsuit filed by the managers in April 2021.

In the case of Álvaro González, the Administrative Court highlights that being part of the Executive Committee of the Colombian Football Federation, participated “in the acts of favoring the award of the ticketing contract to Ticket Shop”, despite the fact that this was not the best offer in the bidding process. “He was part of the group of people responsible for receiving the offers presented and, therefore, he allowed the supply of privileged information to the other cartelists.”

With all the material evidence collected, the Court indicated that the directors of the Federation participated in the irregular favoring for the award of the ticket office contract, “their active participation in making decisions in this regard and their omissive attitude in the face of various irregularities.”

Therefore, the arguments presented by Jesurún, González and Tamayo were not well received. “Not having the right to veto does not justify having overlooked all the irregularities described in this decision, so the claim of the plaintiffs Ramón de Jesús Jesurún Franco and Álvaro González Alzate is unfounded.”

In the case of Andrés Tamayo Iannini, who at the time of the events was acting as Legal Adviser of the Colombian Football Federation, The Court concluded that it endorsed the proposal submitted by Ticket Shop for the award of the contract, despite the fact that it did not meet the established requirements. “The Chamber informs that the whistleblower, who submitted the offer on August 12, 2015 on behalf of Ticket Shop, expressly stated that he did not provide the required USB in the formal requirements, a situation that Andrés Tamayo Iannini failed to fully warn. Also, despite knowing the situation that arose with the execution of the contract, that is, that it was Ticket Ya and not Ticket Shop who administered and directed the contract, he omitted to formulate any objection”.