Piqué denies having paid Rubiales or the RFEF for the Super Cup contract to Saudi Arabia

The former FC Barcelona soccer player and businessman Gerard Piqué has denied this Friday in the courts of Majadahonda to have paid the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales OA the entity for acting as an intermediary of the Saudi in the contract for the transfer of the ‘Supercopa’ of Male Soccer of Spain to Saudi Arabia.

He has also denied irregularities in the commission of 4 million annually-to pay for 10 years-that his business group, Kosmos, agreed to receive from the Saudi public company Sela for the contract signed by the RFEF to take the competition to the Arab country.

Legal sources have confirmed to Europa Press that the former player has pronounced in his statement as investigated before the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 4 of Majadahonda, where he has reached 09.15 hours. Both at his entrance and at his departure, he has chosen not to make statements to the dozens of journalists who were waiting for him early on the Avenida de los Claveles, number 12, of Majadahonda.

Piqué has declared on the same line that his lawyer defended on Thursday in a letter he presented before the court. The defense contributed 15 invoices issued by Kosmos to the Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAAF) for a global amount of 12 million euros, as well as bank vouchers and an electronic postal chain. This sum has been paid to a Kosmos account that the judge blocked last April in the framework of the investigation.

Piqué’s lawyer defended that such documentation evidences “normality in the contractual relationship and the acceptance of intermediation services actually provided,” according to the letter to which Europa Press has had access.

The best RFEF contract

According to the sources consulted, this Friday Piqué-who has responded for almost two hours to the judge, to the prosecutor and his lawyer-has claimed to have been proud to have achieved the one who considers the best RFEF contract. In his opinion, without the intermediation of Kosmos the agreement between the Federation and the Saudi would not have happened.

He also stressed that, if at any time he implied that he had the federation commission to mediate in the Super Cup, he rectified him in a press conference. As he stressed, he has never paid any payment either to Rubiales or the Federation for this or any other business.

In this sense, Piqué’s statement coincides with what was stated in judicial headquarters by the former president of the RFEF, who denied having received any money from the former Barça player.

Within the framework of the statement, the former Defense Blaugrana explained that he was a Kosmos worker who contacted him with the Saudi company Sela and organized a meeting in January 2019 with two executives of said company to negotiate the transfer of the competition, as stated in the electronic postal chain that contributed his defense on Thursday.

In line, the former player has stated that initially the agreement with Sela was verbal; Specifically, he has described it as a “gentlemen’s pact.” As noted, they set a 10% commission for Kosmos, which thereafter contacted Rubiales to explain the proposal to take the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.

He has also pointed out that once the negotiation was consolidated, he proposed to Sela to close the position of Kosmos and the Saudi company spoke with the RFEF to achieve such protection through a clause in the contract.

As reported, the 4 million commission was signed with the Saudis in September 2019, the same day as Sela and the RFEF signed the Super Cup contract, something that has defended is usual in these cases.

The former international has also pointed out that at the beginning Kosmos had problems collecting said commission and that, in his attempt to solve him, he called Rubiales to help him, although he has not specified whether the former president of the RFEF intervened in the matter. What he has stated is that payments were finally issued.

At the close of his speech, Piqué has requested the word visibly excited to ensure that it seems an injustice to be involved in this cause for more than a year, while implicating that in any other country they would have recognized him for his mediation.

The indications that the judge appreciates

The former soccer player has appeared in the judicial headquarters 10 months after the magistrate Delia Rodrigo agreed to include him in the list of accused, which includes the former presidents of the RFEF Luis Rubiales and Pedro Rocha, who already declared in this case in which alleged crimes of corruption in business, unfair administration and money laundering are investigated.

The instructor charged him by appreciating criminal indications in the commission that Kosmos charged by Sela. The judge stressed that the contract included admission for which the agreements were extended four more years, agreeing to maintain a successful premium in favor of a “third agent” that would be Kosmos during the years of the extension. “In short, for the RFEF it will have been, if the agreement is fulfilled until its term, an income of 400 million and for the company of Piqué 40 million,” said the judge.

Along these lines, the instructor put the focus on a clause that was called “essential” for which the RFEF “tried to guarantee the payment of the commission of 4 million euros per year in favor of Kosmos, even if this company formally would be the Commissionist of Sela.” He also stressed that, “at the time of the contract,” Piqué was an active player of FC Barcelona, ​​who participated in the Super Cup.

This Friday, the former soccer player said that while he was active, no one told him that there could be a conflict of interest. In addition, he has stated that he had a relationship as organizations in charge of organizing sporting events and he participated in all of them.