Luis Rubiales, the disgraced former president of Spain’s soccer federation who kissed a participant on the lips with out her consent on the Ladies’s World Cup remaining, was arrested Wednesday as a part of a separate corruption probe by Spanish police earlier than being launched.
The Civil Guard mentioned that Rubiales was questioned by police at Madrid’s airport after he was detained on exiting the aircraft that introduced him again residence from the Dominican Republic. He was launched just a few hours later. An investigative decide is anticipated to summon him for extra questioning within the coming days.
Rubiales was returning to Spain amid a judicial probe into enterprise offers whereas he ran the federation, together with his greatest choice to maneuver the Spanish Tremendous Cup to Saudi Arabia.
Rubiales was within the Dominican Republic two weeks in the past when police raided a property belonging to him within the southern Spanish metropolis of Granada and the places of work of the Spanish Soccer Federation in Madrid. Seven individuals have been arrested by police earlier than being launched and Rubiales was recognized as certainly one of 5 extra people beneath investigation.
The corruption and cash laundering investigation is wanting into contracts for the Spanish Tremendous Cup and the federation’s hyperlinks with Seville’s La Cartuja Stadium, which hosts the Copa del Rey remaining and a few worldwide video games, amongst different offers.
Going through sexual assault trial
Rubiales stepped down as president of the federation in September after inflicting a global scandal for kissing Spain participant Jenni Hermoso with out her consent on the Ladies’s World Cup remaining. He’s dealing with a trial for allegedly sexually assaulting Hermoso. He has denied any wrongdoing in that case.
Rubiales lower brief his keep overseas by three days. He had initially advised the court docket that he was coming again on Saturday.
Prosecutors opened a probe of that deal in 2022 following leaked audio between Rubiales and then-Barcelona participant Gerard Pique relating to hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in commissions. Pique’s sports activities leisure firm Kosmos was concerned within the cope with the federation and Saudi Arabia. An organization official advised The Related Press that no worker of Kosmos has been detained or positioned beneath investigation and no property of the corporate has been raided.
In a quick preview of a recorded interview with Spanish tv channel La Sexta, Rubiales denied a sequence of what he referred to as false claims made by Spanish media.
“I do not know what the decide has mentioned or what Civil Guard has investigated,” he mentioned. “The cash in my checking account is the results of my work and my financial savings.”
Stress on federation to carry elections
Rubiales, 46, is a former participant who ran Spain’s predominant gamers union earlier than he was elected to run the federation in 2018 when he changed Angel Maria Villar, who was in energy for almost three many years earlier than he was investigated for corruption. Rubiales shored up inside assist by boosting revenues for the federation and spreading them round. He labored his approach as much as UEFA vice chairman and performed an element in securing the joint bid by Spain, Portugal and Morocco to co-host the 2030 males’s World Cup.
Spain’s Justice Minister Felix Bolanos mentioned he was not involved about doable reputational harm to Spain co-hosting the World Cup.
The federation runs Spain’s males’s and ladies’s nationwide soccer groups, the Copa del Rey, and the nation’s semi-professional and novice soccer leagues. It additionally organizes the referees. The federal government maintains some oversight of the entity however it can’t title or take away its executives.
Rubiales’ greatest choice was to take the Spanish Tremendous Cup to Saudi Arabia. The golf equipment and federation favored the revenue, however the transfer was criticized by girls’s and human rights teams over Saudi Arabia’s therapy of ladies and minorities.
He had appeared untouchable, nevertheless, till he turned a nationwide embarrassment for his kiss of Hermoso on the Ladies’s World Cup. The world champion gamers boycotted the group and, after Rubiales initially claimed to be the sufferer of “false feminists,” he ultimately stop beneath immense strain.
Since he stepped down, the federation has been run by Pedro Rocha, the person Rubiales maneuvered to go away in cost. Spain’s authorities, reportedly together with FIFA, are pressuring the federation to carry new elections as quickly as doable.
