The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) under the presidency of Luis Rubiales -now temporarily suspended by FIFA- has maneuvered to bypass the defendant’s bench as a legal person in the so-called ‘Haiti case’ alleging that the crime of grant fraud for which it was prosecuted is prescribed. This is stated in the accounts of the Federation itself, to which EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, from the Prensa Ibérica group, has had access.
The case fell on the Criminal Court number 30 of Madrid, whose owner is Hortensia de Oro-Pulido, who must decide whether to accept the request of the Federation under the presidency of Rubiales.
“The RFEF alleges the prescription of the actions given that the action was consummated on November 30, 2011 and the complaint that gave rise to the proceedings was filed on December 30, 2016“, explains the body that governs the destinies of Spanish football in an appeal that maintains that he cannot be prosecuted for subsidy fraud because “more than five years” have passed, the period in which it is considered that the crime would have prescribed.
returned the money
However, the Federation recognized that public aid did not have the destination for which it was granted. In its official accounts, the RFEF explains, in this sense, that after being charged as a legal person, it opened an internal investigation that allowed the subsidies, which were not executed, to be reimbursed “before the start of the judicial procedure:” Said reimbursement, for a total amount of 1,560,931 euros included the principal plus accrued interest”, Rubiales’ accounts continue, which defend that this “regularization entails the repair of the damage, being therefore an exemption from criminal action“.
The so-called ‘Haiti case’, the only one for which the RFEF is being prosecuted as a legal entity, began after the complaint filed by the president of the National Training Center for Coaches (Cenafe), Miguel Ángel Galán Castellanos, against the Federation, against its then president, Angel Maria Villarand other managers. Specifically, it attributed the crimes of misappropriation, prevarication and embezzlement of public funds in relation to a grant of 219,500 euros whose purpose was the creation of a soccer school in haiti.
The investigation carried out by the head of the Investigating Court number 4 of Majadahonda (Madrid) confirmed that these funds did not go to the Caribbean country. In addition, the instructor expanded her investigations to four different subsidized programs for another 1,222,500 euros that were also awarded to the RFEF.
Three accused
In addition to the Federation, the magistrate of Majadahonda agreed to prosecute the former secretary general of the organization Jorge Perez Arias; to the former administrator Jose Maria Castillon Casasnovas; and the former director of the RFEF Foundation Isabel Navas Portillo. He accused them of not executing “the project for which the subsidy was granted, not adjusting to the conditions to which the aid was conditioned,” says an order dated November 28, 2022, to which this newsroom has had access. .
On the contrary, the judge closed the accusation against Villar and against the Federation for the other crimes for which they were denounced. The Prosecutor’s Office has already demanded that the RFEF be sentenced to pay 700,000 eurosaccording to the Iusport website.
2023-09-07 06:24:36
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