El Chiqui Tapia denied the accusations for the alleged improper withholding of contributions and demanded their dismissal

.

In its presentation, the defense requested evidence and asked ARCA to inform the court if interest was included in the payments made and if Tapia is the material author of the payment flyers or of the affidavits related to the disputed obligations.

"This is a particularly significant factual situation, which, due to the improper state action described, is subject to a reproachable 'imprisonment for debts', incompatible with the principles that inspire our legal system,”

he said.

“And the most serious thing that the ARCA concealed and most likely motivated you to immediately comply with your request for summons, is that the reproached action was complied with under an express rule that allows it. In other words, there was no unlawful or undue action. Only permissible conduct,” he concluded.

The application of the Fiscal Innocence Act

In his defense, as well as the defense of the AFA treasurer, Pablo Toviggino, Tapia called for the application of Law 27,799, known as the Fiscal Innocence Act, considering that it is more favorable

to his situation.

“This case must be brought to an immediate conclusion because, I insist, it cannot be promoted in accordance with the new legal text,” he said.

How the case proceeds

After concluding the round of investigations, Judge Amarante now has ten business days to decide whether to prosecute, dismiss or dictate the lack of merit for Tapia and the other members of the AFA board of directors involved in the case

.

If the existence of a crime is determined, the penalties can range from 2 to 6 years in prison.

The corrupt president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia, presented his statement this Thursday investigation into the cause that investigates an alleged improper withholding of contributions of more than 19 billion pesos. In his written statement, the leader denied having committed a crime both personally and from the institution he presides over and requested to be dismissed for

the absence of a crime.

“I expressly, categorically and circumstantially deny having deliberately decided, ordered, executed or consented to the lack of income from taxes or social security resources withheld by the Argentine Football Association,” Diego Amarante said in the letter submitted to economic criminal judge Diego Amarante.

In addition, he assured that he had no direct intervention in decisions related to tax matters. “It is imperative to reiterate from the outset that, beyond the institutional position I hold, I have neither personal nor legally decision-making intervention in the tax matters that constitute the object of this

cause,” he explained.

“The President's activity, at least since I was in office and in the same way it happened before, makes it materially impossible to participate in the daily internal bureaucratic operation,” he added

.

The institutional defense of the AFA

On the other hand, Tapia also defended the institutional action of the AFA in relation to fiscal obligations. According to his disclaimer, the entity "not only has not acted unlawfully, but it has disclosed its affidavits in a timely manner, exhibiting all the obligations that were eventually due to be paid, without distortions or concealments”. In that regard, he added that these submissions "were not subject to any challenge”

.

"The AFA is accused of being suspected of malicious conduct with respect to obligations that it never concealed, never disguised and which it also regularized without having known

the existence of the cause,” he said.

The president of the AFA also maintained that there was no consolidated tax loss, since the obligations were later paid together with the corresponding interest. “There was no consolidated material tax loss, as long as the obligations were paid and regularized with their corresponding compensatory (not punitive) interests,” he remarked.

The complaints about the public dissemination of the case

For his part, the leader also pointed out against the media dissemination of the cause and suggested that it responds to external interests. “The overwhelming public publicity that this case has had has not been exempt from early and unfounded assessments

,” he said.

"There is no doubt that it responds to interests whose motivation I can reasonably assume, although I will not have to go into more detail about it because it does not constitute a question strictly related to the accusation. However, it is not possible to ignore it in view of the very serious damage it generates,” he said