Nearly US$1 million in funds from soccer’s global governing body, FIFA, might have gone missing from the Guatemalan Football Federation (Fedefut) last year, according to sources and an internal audit seen by Reuters.
Dozens of soccer officials worldwide have been charged by US authorities probing corruption in FIFA, in an investigation that has sent shockwaves across the sport.
The Fedefut received 8.24 million quetzals (US$1.1 million) in nine deposits from FIFA from February to October last year, according to a document signed by the federation’s accountant and seen by Reuters.
The Fedefut budget presented early last year totaled about US$1.5 million, but only included about US$250,000 in FIFA funding, while the remaining funds from the nine deposits were not included, according to sources knowledgeable about the internal audit.
The internal audit was conducted by a FIFA committee put in charge of running the Fedefut after the arrest on corruption charges last month of top Guatemalan officials, and earlier on Friday, the committee filed a complaint over the missing funds with Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana.
The federation’s year-end spending report excluded the additional deposits.
The membership of Fedefut’s general assembly was also not informed of the nine deposits.
“That information was hidden,” said one of the sources, adding that the results of an investigation into the missing funds would be provided to a visiting FIFA official next week.
In one document, Fedefut’s top budget official, Oswaldo Rolando, said that the federation’s financial division was informed of the extra deposits.
“I do not know why they were not made available to the general assembly,” Rolando said in the documents.
Former financial division head Ciro Muralles said in a brief phone interview that he would not comment on the missing funds until he reviews the documents.
A spokesperson for the FIFA committee running Fedefut said that the complaint seeks an investigation into “the crimes that might have occurred.”
Earlier this month, Guatemalan police arrested fugitive former Fedefut president Brayan Jimenez in connection with the corruption probe.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but