Piqué denies paying Rubiales or RFEF for Supercopa contract with Saudi Arabia
Fake being proud of the contract and would resign from the irregularities in the commission accused by his Saudi company.
Former FC Barcelona football player and entrepreneur Gerard Piqué denied on Friday at the Majadahonda courts paying former Royal Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales to act as an intermediary for the Saudis in the contract for the transfer of the «Supercopopa» from Saudi football.
He also rejected the irregularities in the 4 million annual commission to be paid for 10 years, which Kosmos, Kosmos, agreed to receive from the Saudi public company for the contract signed by the RFEF to bring the competition to the Arab country.
Legal sources confirmed that Europe pressured the former player to pronounce in his statement, as investigated before the first court and the instruction court number 4 in Majadahonda, where he arrived at 09:15 hours. Both on his way in and out, he decided not to make statements to the dozens of journalists waiting at Ava de los Claveles, number 12, in Majadahonda.
Piqué stated in the same line as his lawyer defended on Thursday in a letter presented to the court. The defense provided 15 invoices issued by Kosmos to the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) for a total amount of 12 million euros, as well as bank vouchers and an email chain. This amount was paid to an account of Kosmos that the judge froze last April in the investigation.
Piqué’s lawyer argued that this documentation demonstrates «normalcy in the contractual relationship and accepting the services of intermediation provided de facto,» according to the letter accessed by Europe Press.
According to sources consulted on Friday, Piqué, who answered for almost two hours to the judge, the prosecutor, and his lawyer, affirmed that he was proud to obtain what he considers the best RFEF contract. In his opinion, without Kosmos intermediaries, the agreement between the Federation and Saudi Arabia would not have happened.
He also emphasized that if at any point he assumed that he had the Federation’s commission to mediate in the Supercopa, he rectified it in a press conference. As he emphasized, he never made any payments to Rubiales, the Federation for this, or any other business.
In this sense, Piqué’s statement aligns with what was declared in court by the former RFEF president, who denied receiving money from the former Barça player.
During the statement, the former Barcelona defender explained that he was an employee of Kosmos who was contacted by the Saudi company Sela and organized a meeting in January 2019 with two mentioned directors to negotiate the transfer of the competition, as stated in the email chain that contributed to his defense on Thursday.
In line with this, the former player stated that initially the agreement with Sela was verbal; Specifically, he described it as the «gentlemen’s agreement.» As mentioned, they established a 10% commission for Kosmos, who then contacted Rubiales to explain the proposal to bring the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
He also emphasized that once the negotiation was finalized, he suggested Sela to close the position for Kosmos, and the Saudi company spoke with the RFEF to secure such protection through a clause.
As reported, the 4 million commission was signed with Saudi Arabia in September 2019, on the same day that Sela and the RFEF signed the Super Cup contract, which he defended as being used in these cases.
The former international player also emphasized that initially Kosmos had trouble collecting the mentioned commission and that, in his attempt to resolve it, he called Rubiales for help, although he did not specify if the former president of the RFEF intervened in this regard. What he said is that the payments were eventually made.
Concluding his speech, Piqué asked for the floor visibly delighted to ensure that it appears unjust to be involved in this case for over a year, while in any other country, he would be recognized for his mediation.
Indications that the judge appreciates
The former football player appeared in court 10 months after Judge Delia Rodrigo decided to include him in the list of defendants, which includes former RFEF presidents Luis Rubiales and Pedro Rocha, who have already testified in this case investigating alleged corruption crimes.
The instructor accused him evaluating the criminal instructions in the commission that Kosmos accused Sela of. The judge emphasized that the contract included a provision for which the agreements were extended for another four years, agreeing to maintain a successful bonus to the benefit of a «third agent» who would be Kosmos in the extension years. «In summary, for the RFEF it would have been, if the agreement is fulfilled until its term, an income of 400 million and for Piqué 40 million,» said the judge.
Throughout these lines, the instructor emphasized a clause called «essential» for which the RFEF «tried to guarantee the payment of the 4 million euros commission in the year in favor of Kosmos, even if this company was officially the Sela Commission.» He also emphasized that, «at the time of the contract,» Piqué was an active player of FC Barcelona, who participated in the Supercopa.
On Friday, the former football player said that while he was active, no one told him that there might be a conflict of interest. Additionally, he mentioned that he had a relationship as organizations responsible for organizing sporting events and participated in all of them.
