A judge has formally charged the Argentine Football Association (AFA), its president Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia and several senior officials in a tax evasion case, according to a court ruling released on Monday.
The court ordered the formal charging of Tapia for the alleged offences of improper appropriation of taxes and improper appropriation of social security resources, and imposed an asset freeze of 350 million pesos (roughly US$250,000) on the main defendants.
AFA as a legal entity was also formally charged and had assets frozen in the same case, along with four other officials, including Tapia’s close ally, AFA Treasurer Pablo Toviggino. The other three executives are Nicolás Malaspina, Claudio Blanco and Marcelo Lorenzo.
The ruling stems from a criminal complaint filed by the ARCA tax and customs authority, which accused the AFA and its directors of improperly withholding taxes and failing to pay tax and social security contributions amounting to around 19 billion pesos (approximately US$13 million at the official exchange rate) for the 2024 and 2025 periods.
The measure was signed in recent hours by Judge Diego Amarante, who ordered that the defendants be formally charged without being remanded in custody, finding that there is sufficient prima facie evidence linking them to the acts under investigation.
The AFA officials must also not leave their homes for a period of 72 hours – meaning Tapia will have to seek permission from the courts to attend this Tuesday’s international friendly match between Argentina and Zambia at Boca Juniors’ La Bombonera stadium.
Tapia and the other defendants appeared before the judge in the case on March 12.
AFA, domestic football’s governing body, and its executives has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the alleged debts do not exist and attributing the case to political pressure from the government of President Javier Milei.
The dispute comes amid a broader conflict between the government and Argentine football authorities. Milei is pushing for clubs to be allowed to convert from non-profit civil associations into sports corporations, a model strongly resisted by clubs and incompatible with AFA statutes.
In a show of support for the accused officials, clubs suspended the ninth round of Argentina’s top division league, which had been scheduled to take place between March 5 and March 8.
In addition to this case, AFA – which Tapia has led since 2017 – is also under investigation for possible money-laundering.
Investigators raided the organisation’s offices in December as part of a probe into its business dealings with a private financial firm.
– TIMES/NA/AFP
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