A copy of the US Department of Justice report into corruption in the FIFA football governing body has implicated late Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona, who the investigation claims pocketed multi-million dollar bribes related to television rights.
The accusation is based events surrounding the creation of the Datisa group, a conglomerate of Torneos y Competencias, Full Play and Traffic. That company won the rights to screen the 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023 editions of the Copa America in a contract signed on May 25 2013, according to the Justice Department’s report (p. 105).
Datisa accordingly agreed to pay a sum of 100 million dollars in bribes. 20 million were earmarked for the contract signing, with another 20 for each of the four tournaments to be covered. According to the document, the money was shared out with US$3 million each to «the highest officials of the Conmebol [the confederation’s president, the Brazilian federation president and the Argentine FA president.]»
Taking those figures into account, Grondona, who passed away in July 2014 having been at the helm of Argentine football since 1979, would have taken a total of US$15m in illicit payments. Although US Attorney-General Loretta Lynch refrained from naming individuals, the report made it clear that the AFA ex-president was involved in the biggest corruption case in FIFA history.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald