Spanish authorities arrested former football leader Luis Rubiales briefly on Wednesday due to an alleged corruption scandal at the RFEF football federation during his time as president.
The 46-year-old was held at Madrid’s Barajas airport shortly after arriving from the Dominican Republic, but was quickly released, a Guardia Civil police spokesperson stated.
Insiders to the investigation mentioned that he was escorted off the plane by police and then questioned inside the airport.
His arrest occurred two weeks after investigators conducted searches at 11 locations, including the RFEF’s headquarters in Madrid and Rubiales’ residence in the southern city of Granada, as part of a probe into alleged corruption and other offenses.
The raids on March 20 were connected to “an inquiry related to potential crimes linked with corruption in business, deceitful administration, and money laundering,” judicial sources detailed.
Reports from Spanish media suggested that investigators were examining RFEF agreements signed from 2018 onwards, including one inked by Rubiales to bring the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
Contracts for the Super Cup are valued at 40 million euros annually ($43.3 million), with the arrangement orchestrated by Kosmos, a company owned by former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique.
* Dominican Republic house raid –
According to Cadena Ser radio, Guardia Civil police traveled to the Dominican Republic and carried out a search on Monday at the property where Rubiales had been residing, seizing a laptop and a mobile phone following an order by the investigating judge.
When contacted by AFP, the Guardia Civil declined to comment on the report.
One day after the March 20 raids, the RFEF dismissed its legal director Pedro Gonzalez Segura, human resources head Jose Javier Jimenez and ended its contract with GC Legal, the law firm of Tomas Gonzalez Cueto.
All three had been arrested by police during the raids.
Rubiales was compelled to step down as RFEF chief in September after forcibly kissing Women’s World Cup star Jenni Hermoso following Spain’s victory in the Sydney final in August.
The incident triggered global outrage, with Rubiales facing trial for the non-consensual kiss, which under Spanish law can be categorized as sexual assault.
In 2022, prosecutors launched an inquiry into the Super Cup deal after leaked audio recordings between Rubiales and Pique surfaced, where they discussed multi-million value commissions.
Rubiales has consistently maintained the legality of the Super Cup deal in taking it to the oil-rich Gulf state, and in April 2022, Pique asserted that everything was “legal”, expressing his “pride” in the agreement.
The Spanish Super Cup was held in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2020.
It returned to Spain the following year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the subsequent three competitions have taken place in Saudi Arabia.
Pique had participated twice with Barcelona in Spanish Super Cups in Saudi Arabia before retiring from football in November 2022.
AFP
