The former president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) Victoriano Sánchez Arminio has requested the National audience to file for him the Soule case, which investigates the former leadership of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and in which he was charged in relation to an alleged misuse of funds.
The judge in charge of this case, Alejandro Abascal, concluded the investigation a few weeks ago, in which he accused Sánchez Arminio and the former general secretary of the CTA Raúl Massó for investigate the destination of 7.9 million euros for arbitration expensesby order of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court.
The Chamber partially upheld last March an appeal by LaLiga in this regard, backed by the Prosecutor’s Office, and urged the judge to question the two former referee leaders and also the former RFEF president Ángel Villar, one of those investigated in the case since its start in 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office alluded to a “alleged diversion of funds contributed by the LNFP to the RFEF, with final destination, by virtue of the collaboration agreements signed between both associations in the years 2006, 2010 and 2014, and its application for purposes other than those foreseen”.
As indicated, the expert reports reveal that “the contributions made by LaLiga to the RFEF corresponding to arbitration fees exceed the expenses recorded by the RFEF by 7,999,013.18 euros corresponding to these concepts” and said difference is not “justified”.
On April 17, Sánchez Arminio appeared, together with Massó, as an investigated, at the National Court, after having done so as a witness years before, at the beginning of the investigation, and did not testify when ratifying what had already happened. manifested in testimonial evidence.
A few weeks later, the judge agreed to end the investigation and also rejected the requests of Sánchez Arminio and Massó to archive the case for both, considering, according to his order, that it was not the opportune procedural moment to decree the file for bothsince that will be decided when the indictment is issued.
Victoriano Sánchez Arminio, who chaired the CTA between 1993 and 2018, disagrees with this opinion and has recently filed an appeal before the Criminal Chamber in which he presents all the arguments that, he considers, would support filing the case for him, as reported. to EFE legal sources.
The judge’s decision to close the investigation has also been appealed by LaLiga, as an accusation, according to ‘Vozpópuli’ and the sources consulted confirmed to EFE.
LaLiga considers that the last report sent by the General State Intervention (IGAE) He did not clarify whether there was a diversion of fundsnor did he quantify said deviation, as he indicated in the letter in which he asked the judge to extend the investigation for two more months.
The Soule case came to light on July 18, 2017, although it was initiated by order of Judge Santiago Pedraz in early 2016, due to a complaint filed by the Higher Sports Council (CSD) for unfair administration against Ángel María Villar, president of the organization from 1988 to 2017.
The case investigates previous RFEF officials for possible crimes of unfair administration, misappropriation and/or fraud, false documentation and corruption between individuals, since Judge Pedraz considered that Villar presumably woven a “lattice” and a network of “patronage” that allowed “the diversion of millions of fundsboth public and private, of the federative entity”.