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Dead or alive. The former president of the Colombian Football Federation, Luis Bedoya, his voice has not trembled to testify in the trials against several of his former colleagues from the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol): Luis Chiriboga, Carlos Chávez, Rafael Esquivel, Sergio Jadue, José María Marín, Marco Polo del Nero, Eugenio Figueredo, Ricardo Teixeira, José Luis Meiszner, Juan Ángel Napout…
The FBI has presented him as a witness in most processes of the so-called Fifa Gate and that is why the reading of his sentence has been postponed at least 5 times, which was rescheduled for mid-June.
“The sentence established for April 7, 2020 is postponed to June 19, 2020, at 10 a.m. m., in room 4F North. Ordered by Judge Pamela K. Chen ”, reads in an official document.
(You may be interested in this research: New scandal splashes at the head of the Football Federation)
The information provided by Bedoya – who recently changed his lawyer – was verified by federal agents who tracked at least 450 bank movements through which the bribes received by the then Conmebol leadership were irrigated in exchange for rigging the transmission rights. of matches.
What Bedoya said was enough to sink the former vice president of Fifa and head of Conmebol, the Paraguayan Napout, 61, who a few weeks ago pleaded that he be removed from the cell in Florida – where he will spend 9 years – so as not to be affected. by the coronavirus.
In the case of Bedoya, it is already proven that he received $ 3,815,000 from the Jinkins brothers, the Argentine owners of the television company Full Play.
Another Colombian?
However, he is unlikely to pay jail. Federal sources said their collaboration has been helpful in raising charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and laundering to at least 15 people. And it is certain that he will be cited again to clarify loose ends in the file.
(You may be interested in: Perdomo challenges the polygraph to ‘tsars’ of soccer for bribes of ballots)
For example, everything indicates that there is a second Colombian who received bribes from Full Play. The data came to light within the money movements at the BHBM branch in Miami.
In May 2009, the entity’s Compliance Department issued alerts about a possible laundering operation and asked for an operation for $ 150,000 to be explained in the account of Yorksfield, a subsidiary of Full Play.
The money went to “an individual who could not be identified.” But one of the bank’s managers said it was someone from the Colombian Federation, and it was noted that there was nothing negative and that no further information was required.
“Everything indicates that they were not talking about Bedoya, who was a recipient of frequent money orders. And it is also evident that someone from the bank knew about the bribes and was helping to move them, ”explained one researcher.
And he confirmed that Bedoya, like the others involved, received bribes for the transmission of all the matches of the Copa Libertadores, since 2008 and for 8 years. Likewise, turns were made for the transmission of the friendlies and qualifiers to the World Cup in Brazil and to the 2015 Copa América (in Chile).
The spins also coincide with the 18 qualifying dates for the World Cup in South Africa. At that time, although Colombia was eliminated, Bedoya’s wallet grew.Full Play had accounts in the names of three subsidiaries that it used to make 53 bribe payments for $ 14.02 million.
Everything indicates that they did not speak of Bedoya, who was a recipient of frequent turns. And it is also evident that someone from the bank knew about the bribes and helped to move them
Another loose end is that of the resale of tickets in Colombia for the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Although he has no connection with the Fifa Gate, before leaving the Prosecutor’s Office, Andrés Jiménez, a delegate against criminal finances, asked, through judicial cooperation, that the former leader talk about the alleged bribes they received to assign the contract of the ticket office.
And the case was even left with several charges against members of the Ticketya firm, involved in the plot.
The tickets and the driver
A new informant assures that close to 4,000 million pesos in bribes were indeed distributed and that the driver of a sports leader is key in the deal.
And he says that Bedoya is asked if a close friend of his received a money order and that the banking transactions of a woman, based in Spain, close to a current member of the Federation, are traced.
A close friend of Bedoya assured that, due to the changes in the Prosecutor’s Office, the process that is followed for money laundering in Colombia is still. In addition, they are waiting for his situation in the United States to be resolved, where he returned the bribe money.
Ramón Jesurún denies allegations that he is involved in the scandal of the ballots for elimination matches that the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) is investigating.
César Melgarejo / EL TIEMPO
As for the file of the ballots, it is expected that the case will advance in the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) and in the Prosecutor’s Office, where they have to establish whether or not it is true that the bribes were in the hands of Bedoya, Álvaro González and Ramón Jesurún, indications that the last two deny.
And on Bedoya’s return to Colombia, the source said that it is safe. However, there is a long way to go, since the sentence will most likely run again, because in Bedoya’s most recent meeting with investigators, he was asked to search for relevant information about the anteroom. of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
@UInvestigativaET
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