By: Alejandro Cespedes
Team 03 of the Third Inter-Provincial Corporate Attorney specializing in Organized Crime decided to expand the investigation into the FPF to others who may be involved in the alleged crimes committed by the President of the Federation, Agustín Lozano Saavedra, and the Board of the FPF.
It was decided to involve in the expert opinion various administrative staff of the federation such as the legal department, the general secretariat and executives of various League 1 clubs for the commission of the alleged offenses of the criminal organization and the general untruth against the federation FPF. According to the document, “the alleged criminal organization would blackmail and force the professional clubs of the premier league of Peruvian football to receive the cash proceeds for the League 1 television rights in 2023.”
The defendants in the first phase of criminal proceedings include Diego Guerrero, legal representative of Club Alianza Lima; Franco Velazco, by university; Leonidas Tupaychi from Cienciano; Christian Herrera of Deportivo Municipal; Juan Carlos Aquino of Binacional; Julio Vasquez of Cusco FC; and Alfredo Matayoshi of Sport Boys.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has scheduled for March 28, 2023 the proceedings for defamation, extraction of information and sampling of the documents, for which it has appointed the expert in forensic accounting of the specialized Public Prosecutor’s Offices against Organized Crime, Rosario Cordero Borja. The aim would be to find evidence of the existence of financial losses against the FPF and the Sunarp in connection with the transfer of ownership of the television broadcast of the matches of the 1st division 2023 to the company 1190 Sports.
The FPF must transfer all television rights documentation related to the development of Liga 1 2023.
In this regard, the criminal defense lawyer, Jackeline López, points out that this tax claim is part of the procedure initiated for the crime of fraudulent administration to verify whether or not there were damaging elements against the FPF and the 1st division teams.
Organised crime?
The fiscal thesis claims that there were three ways that this task could have been performed illegally. First and foremost is “the tender for the television rights for the transmission of the 1st league in August 2022”. Second, “the Cooperation Agreement, an associative model of collaboration between the FPF and 1190 Sports”.
Third: “The Trust with Repayment administered by a Trustee who would preside over the Trusteeship Committee of five members appointed by him FPF and two members nominated by 1190 Sports”. This would come on top of complaints previously filed by League 1 teams and the Peru Football Consortium about the alleged forms of coercion used by the FPF to gain absolute ownership of Peru’s matches. Lozano Saavedra and the directors of the FPF are being investigated for allegedly committing the crimes of extortion, coercion and criminal organization to the detriment of professional clubs in League 1.
According to the prosecutor’s team specializing in organized crime, “as part of the alleged acts of extortion and coercion, the FPF has asked the professional clubs of the first division of Peruvian football to cede their television rights on pain of losing the relevant category.” League 1 2023”.
Did you know…
The opening of further investigations into the first phase of the criminal proceedings against the President of the FPF and other executives for the alleged commission of crimes will not affect the terms previously planned for that case. According to the law, the maximum duration of the preliminary investigation can be up to 36 months.