Argentine court clears AFA president for trips to Colombia and Brazil | OneFootball

The Argentine justice system has authorized Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), to leave the country, despite having prohibited him from traveling abroad last week, while he is under investigation for alleged tax evasion, according to a decision released this Monday.

The case investigates whether the powerful football entity improperly withheld and failed to deposit approximately 19 billion pesos (about R$ 67 million at the current exchange rate) in taxes and social security contributions between March 2024 and September 2025.

“The mere existence of a criminal investigation, by itself, does not constitute sufficient reason to prevent the applicant from traveling,” states the decision, signed by Judge Diego Amarante.

Tapia had requested travel authorization to attend an event of the Colombian Football Federation in Barranquilla and then a Conmebol council meeting in Rio de Janeiro, between February 23 and 28.

However, the court imposed a bail of 5 million pesos (approximately R$ 18.6 billion) to authorize his departure from Argentina.

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Under Investigation

The president of the AFA has been summoned to testify on March 5. The treasurer of the entity and three other directors must also appear.

The AFA denied last Friday having “any outstanding debt related to the tax obligations cited as the basis for the complaint filed by ARCA,” the official tax collection agency.

With the court decision issued this Monday, it is expected that Tapia will attend the Finalissima between Argentina and Spain, which will be held in Qatar on March 27.

In addition to this case, the AFA is also being investigated for possible money laundering. The organization was the target of a search and seizure operation last December to collect documents related to suspicious transactions with a private financial institution.

*By AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.