Buenos Aires, December 13 (NA) -- The General Inspection of Justice (IGJ) has attacked the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the Professional League, asserting that they 'operate outside the law' and announcing the summoning of the auditors who certified their multi-million dollar financial statements.
The head of the body, Daniel Vítolo, in a communication with Radio Rivadavia, to which the Argentine News Agency had access, addressed the alleged corruption and lack of control in both entities by explaining that they operated with a structure of impunity for years, refusing to respond to the IGJ regarding unapproved financial statements and multi-million dollar figures without detailing them.
Vítolo pointed out that both FIFA and AFA conceive of themselves as if they were 'independent countries', attempting to evade ordinary justice and Argentine regulations.
The question that has been asked of the AFA for years is: 'These figures that you have globally in the balance, how are they composed?'
Under this pressure, the AFA moved its jurisdiction to the province of Buenos Aires, an act that Vítolo considers 'absolutely null' because the necessary norms were not met, since 'to be able to change jurisdiction, you first have to resolve the pending matters in the current jurisdiction'.
Finally, the head of the IGJ announced that, in addition to being able to request the intervention of the Ministry of Justice – although he clarified that this is not a scenario they are considering in the immediate future and that if it were to happen, it would be limited to the appointment of an informant – an imminent measure is the summoning of the auditors: 'We are summoning the auditors in a summary proceeding that is opened, that is, this is no longer just an AFA issue, but we are also including the Professional League'.
The intention is to ask them: 'If you signed these statements over the years saying that this number is correct, that is, for example, that in the year 2024 there are 44 million dollars in expenses for national teams under that heading and you say that it is fine. Explain to us how you arrived at this number, what is inside this number, what did you add up to get to this'.
As an example of this situation, he cited the case of Verón and the sanction applied, which, to be reviewed, 'has to go to a tribunal in Loyan, Switzerland, which belongs to FIFA'.
The head of the IGJ maintained that FIFA acts as if it were a country and the federations that make it up as embassies, and that this situation of impunity has been 'lived outside the law for years'.
He recalled that CONMEBOL, until the outbreak of the FIFA Gate in 2015, had the status of an embassy in Paraguay.
He also dismissed the constant threat that FIFA could separate from international tournaments the countries where their governments or justice intervene in the associations, mentioning that in cases like Bolivia and Brazil, 'FIFA has done absolutely nothing and has not disqualified the elections'.
The official highlighted that the work of the IGJ does not interfere in football matters, but rather seeks 'to put an end to 8 years of absolute impunity'.
And he added: 'This is replicated in each of the statutes of the federations'.
To the follow-up question on why this is only being asked now, Vítolo was categorical: 'It has been asked for 8 years and they do not answer. What happens is that before no one did anything and when we wanted to do it, they moved to the province of Buenos Aires, in fact and disappeared'.
The entity's response is silence: 'It does not respond, it does not answer'.
Vítolo differentiated the case of the AFA from that of societies and SMEs: while in the latter the control authority does not approve financial statements, but only performs a formal analysis, in the case of civil associations, 'the financial statements only have effect when they are approved by the control authority'.
Consequently, the AFA has been functioning 'for 8 years with financial statements that are not approved and it is more that it is functioning with statutory reforms that are also not approved and no one says anything'.
