Gerard Piqué's defense voluntarily delivered to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office ten invoices of 800,000 euros each that Kosmos Football, the footballer's company, has collected so far for mediating between the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Saudi Arabia to that the Spanish Super Cup moved to the Persian Gulf country.
The newspaper El Mundo published this Monday the ten receipts issued that Piqué's business holding company invoiced the entity Sela Sport Company Limited, linked to the Ministry of Sports of Saudi Arabia, a total of eight million euros free of taxes that justify, according to Piqué, some "consulting services".
Some audios leaked by El Confidencial revealed the intermediation of Piqué, who agreed with the president of the Federation Luis Rubiales a commission of four million euros that Saudi Arabia would take charge of, which, by contract, will receive until the 2028/29 season. "As can be verified, there is no payment from the RFEF, as is obvious," reads the letter delivered to the Public Ministry.
"We are therefore faced with a contractual agreement with reciprocal obligations described in a transparent manner and which also contains detailed anti-corruption clauses," the defense alleges.
Last May, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opened proceedings against Rubiales and Piqué to investigate how the contract to bring the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia was closed. The complaint filed in a court in Majadahonda by the president of the National Training Center for Football Coaches (CENAFE), Miguel Ángel Galán, stated that Rubiales "agreed with Gerard Piqué to collect a multimillion-dollar commission for the transfer of the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia."
In addition, he adds that the president of RFEF "pressured the Riyadh authorities to pay the FC Barcelona player up to 24 million euros for playing the tournament in that country and then tried to hide the player's participation in the contract."
Piqué has been pointed out because there could be a conflict of interest in the agreement, since he is a player who is still active and who is part of the teams that play in the tournament. Anti-corruption wants to clarify if crimes of corruption between individuals and in business, unfair administration, prevarication or bribery were committed. Piqué and Rubiales defend their innocence.
