The Argentine Football Association (AFA), chaired by the disgraceful Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia, won't stop adding controversies. Federal Justice placed under investigation an alleged diversion of at least 50 million dollars linked to funds caused by the international activity of the Argentina National Team.
The case file, overseen by the federal judge of Lomas de Zamora, Luis Armella, with the involvement of prosecutor Cecilia Incardona, seeks to determine whether part of the income obtained abroad never reached its regulatory destination: the strengthening of local clubs.
According to the case, the money under suspicion was transferred through five companies based outside the country that reportedly wouldn't record clear economic activity to justify the detected movements. The companies identified are Velpasalt Global LLC (4.7 million), Marmasch LLC (13.4 million), Soagu Services LLC (10.8 million), Dicetel (4.8 million) and Velp LLC (3 million).
At the center of the investigation is TourProdEnter LLC, a company linked to businessman Javier Faroni, which allegedly managed and collected AFA's international funds for a total close to 260 million dollars. Those revenues would come from contracts for friendly matches of the National Team, commercial agreements with Adidas and rights associated with the platform AFA Play. The prosecutor's office is trying to establish what percentage of that amount was effectively transferred to the association and what portion allegedly remained along the way.
As part of the evidentiary measures, Armella ordered Banco Coinag to provide a detailed report on checking accounts, savings accounts, time deposits and historical statements linked to the companies mentioned. The bank clarified that "it isn't part of the case" and assured that its operations comply with Central Bank regulations and with the anti-money laundering law, while describing the judicial request as "normal".
