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.
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