The following is a translation of the news just posted today by Mr Jamil Chade: http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/esportes,escandalo-que-derrubou-havelange-e-teixeira-contou-com-redes-de-rossell,1085928,0.htm

 

Documents show that schemes involved companies connected to the FC Barcelona president

 

GENEVA – Documentss and official registries reveal that people close to Sandro Rosell were intermediaries in the biggest FIFA corruption scandal, with payments made to Ricardo Teixeira and João Havelange by the marketing company ISL. Rosell was even one of the directors of ISL Spain, subsidiary of the company accused in Switzerland of being used as a bank by the brazilian heads in FIFA. It was also a company with ties to one of Rosell’s partners that paid the fee Teixeira and Havelange had to provide to settle the case.

A little more than a month ago, Estado reveal with exclusivity that part of the money from Brazil friendlies went to accounts of Rosell’s companies. New documents, however, reveal that the relationship between Teixeira and Rosell is really old and that associates of the catalan were implicated in various other businness with the brazilian.

The main case involves the creation of a real corruption scheme inside FIFA that ended up causing both Teixeira and Havelange to resign. According to the swiss justice, both defrauded FIFA in 40 million reais between the years of 1992 and 2000 from ISL, the company that sold the transmission rights for the World Cups of 2002 and 2006. The case was kept in secrecy for two years and the brazilian heads paid a fee of 2,45 million dolars as a return of the funds and as a way to close the case in an amicable way with FIFA. The deal kept the names in secrecy in exchange for money.

At the time, Teixeira went to get someone really understood about the matter to defend him. The brazilian head hired the lawyer Antenor Madruga to represent him. Madruga, until 2007, had been one of the members of the Council of Control of Financial Activities and coordinator of the National Strategy to Fight Corruption and Money Laudering.

But the secrecy did not last and the appeals in the courts in Lausanne got the documents to be released. Havelange was obliged to step down from the post of honorary FIFA president and from the International Olympic Committee. Teixeira left CBF, FIFA and went to live in Miami. But the documents still kept in secrecy the names of the other people involved. According to official documents, the person identified as P5 provided a statement at the time that indicated that “he conducted the transactions in the name of Ricardo Terra Teixeira”. 2,4 million dolars went from a bank in Zurich to the account 400428 in the name of Ricardo Teixeira in Andorra. According to the document, “P5 then withdrew the payments in liquid cash and paid them in the account of Ricardo Terra Teixeira”.

Date obtained by Estado reveal now that the company that managed the return of the money in form of fees was Bon Us SL. The company deposited 2,5 million dolars of the deal between Teixeira, Havelange and FIFA. The money went to the account of Peter Nobel, Blatter’s personal lawyer, who then sent the money to FIFA. Four days later, another 100 thousand dolars were moved from a bank in Andorra to Nobel, supposedly as payments for his services.

The president of Bon Us is not declared in official documents. But the company has stocks of the society CO-INVEST SP ZOO registered in Poland that has as one of its partners Joan Besoli, that is one of Rosell’s partners. The web of relationships does not end there. Besoli was also Rosell’s partner in the company Comptages SL, the office that questioned Teixeira’s request to become a resident of Andorra.

Besoli is also a financial adviser of Sant Julia de Loria, one of the cities of Andorra and, coincidently, the same where Teixeira registered one of his residencies, in Xalet Can Xiripa, Aixuverri.

ISL

But the involvement of Rosell with the companies tied to the FIFA scandal does not end with Besoli. Official data obtained by Estado reveal that the FC Barcelona president was one of the ISL big names, in it’s contract in Spain. His participation would have ended in may 13th 2010, before taking over as FCB president.

ISL was considered by the Justice in Switzerland as a real alternative bank for FIFA, where illegal payments, corruption and the buying of favours were dealt and sold. One of the men mentioned in the swiss documents is Jean Marie Weber. In the spanish registries, he is mentioned as being the vice-president of ISL Spain, starting on the 21st of setember, 1999. In a official document from the FIFA Ethics Committee in april 29th 2013, Weber is mentioned as having an accusation against him for corruption in the courts of Zug, Switzerland.

A year later, the person who gets to the presidency of ISL Spain is Alejandro Torrado Andre, another businnessman that for years worked with Rosell and was his partner. During a time in which Weber and Rosell were part of ISL Spain, the company closed a deal with the Spanish Federation as well as with the Argentine Federation, managed by Grondona.

Estado tried to contact Besoli and left messages both in his political party and in the offices of his finance administration in Sant Julia, with no success.