The president of the AFA, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, and the treasurer Pablo Toviggino will testify this week in the case concerning the alleged retention of taxes and social security contributions amounting to 19.3 billion pesos. While Toviggino must appear in court on Wednesday, Tapia will do the same on Thursday before Judge Diego Amarante in economic matters. The investigation aims to determine if there were irregularities in the withholding and payment of taxes related to Argentine football, in a case that also involves other AFA leaders and has caused a strong repercussion in the sports and political spheres. Tapia's defense had unsuccessfully requested the nullity of his summons to give a statement in the case investigating the alleged improper withholding of contributions exceeding $19.353 billion. The judge also prohibited both from leaving the country, four months before the World Cup in the United States, although he later granted Tapia the corresponding permission. The case investigates the alleged misappropriation of over $19.353 billion corresponding to tax withholdings and social security contributions between March 2024 and September 2025.
Meanwhile, the businessman Víctor Blanco, former president of Racing and former general secretary of the AFA, appeared in court on Monday and distanced himself from the accusation of alleged tax and social security withholdings. In the document, accessed by the Argentine News Agency, the former leader stated that he was “not even aware of the details of the internal circuit for the timely deposit of tax withholdings and social security contributions during his tenure as general secretary of the AFA.” “I have only become aware of those details now, as they were described by several witnesses under oath in this case,” he added. Blanco also maintained that “the people who daily managed the accounting and tax obligations of the AFA are completely unaware of what functions I performed. This is absolutely consistent with what I am asserting here: as general secretary, I had no interference whatsoever in the operations of the entity being investigated here.”
And he pointed out that his position at the AFA was “statutory with essentially institutional functions.” The tax authority ARCA, ex AFIP, had requested Amarante to summon these AFA leaders due to the case they both face for alleged irregularities in that institution.
