President of Barcelona is accused of frauds in Brasília

03/12/2013 - 03h00

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FILIPE COUTINHO

FROM BRASÍLIA

Sandro Rosell, the president of Barcelona and one of the most powerful team directors in the world, was accused in Brazil of benefiting illegally from a contract that didn't previously undergo a bidding process and using fake documents to organize a friendly match of Brazil's national team.

Rosell is accused of false representation and illegal exemption of bidding, in which he received R$ 9 million in public resources. If he is convicted, he can be sentenced to up to eight years in prison. He is the owner of Ailanto Marketing, a company contracted without bidding to organize the Brazil vs. Portugal friendly match in Brasília in 2008. The government of Brazil's Federal District paid R$ 9 million for the game.

Folha verified that the Federal Prosecutor's Office for the Defense of Public and Social Patrimony filed a complaint at the Federal District's State Attorney's Office in February. It was received by the 8th criminal court in Brasília, which set a date for the defense. Former governor José Roberto Arruda also was accused.

This is the first step in the investigation. Courts have ordered the case to be kept in confidentiality. Ailanto and Arruda also are being charged with a civil suit that requires the resources to be returned.

As Folha disclosed last year, Ailanto Marketing is connected with Ricardo Teixeira, the former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Police found checks and tax returns that show that Ricardo Teixeira received R$ 705,000 from the company's partners.

Rosell sent R$ 1 million from Alianto to his personal account in Spain after the game - the case was sent to Brazil's Internal Revenue Service.

Albert Olivé/Efe President of Barcelona, Sandro Rosell

FAKE DOCUMENT

After almost three years of investigations, the Federal Prosecutor's Office decided that Sandro Rosell and his partner Vanessa Precht knew the hiring was illegal and benefited from it. One of the examples is the use of a fake document to confirm that Ailanto could carry out the match.

The invoices issued by the company to the government were numbered 01 and 02 - Roseel had set up Ailanto five months earlier.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office considered the technical support certificate fake - the document is signed by the company Bonus Sports Marketing, which also belongs to Rosell.

The document had been presented seven days before the game and cites events that allegedly attested Ailanto's capacity to organize the match when the company didn't exist.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office also says a table described as "apocryphal and generic" was used to justify the price, considered "impractical" by the judicial branch of the Federal District's government. The accusation also cites documents that weren't translated, which didn't comply with the legal requirements.

TRANSLATED BY THOMAS MUELLO