Interim President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Pedro Rocha is under investigation as part of the corruption case which saw police raids on the headquarters of the RFEF last month. Seven arrests have so far been made, with predecessor Luis Rubiales taken in for questioning, and Rocha becomes the 13th person under investigation.
Rocha attended court in Majadahonda this afternoon to give a statement to the police, and Diario AS say that his status has gone from a witness to one of the accused. The initial charges involve fraudulent construction contracts of up to €5m in value, which were awarded in the interest of kickbacks, as the public prosecutor understands it.
Meanwhile the same source say that the Court of Arbitration for Sport have accepted a complaint made by Head of CENAFE Miguel Galan that Rocha has exceeded his responsibilities as interim president, by waiting too long to call elections and also taken decisions that were not under his purview as part of the interim committee, such as appointments and sackings, most notably those of Jorge Vilda and Montse Tome, the latter replacing Vilda as women’s coach.
The RFEF had been due to hold elections, with Rocha the top candidate to continue in the role, but CAS could suspend him from action, which would require a new candidate for the presidency. They say the decision has been taken to open an investigation, although CAS have not yet made an announcement regarding the matter.
As reported by Marca since, Rocha has admitted a statement since declaring that nobody is ‘more surprised than him’ at this afternoon’s events, and that he hopes to clear up the matter as quickly as possible, so as to establish that he had nothing to do with the allegedly fraudulent contracts.
