Argentina‘s Football Association (AFA) has denied reports that its president Claudio Tapia or its treasurer Pablo Toviggino have been summoned to give evidence by United States courts.
Local reports claimed that, as part of an investigation by the U.S. authorities into AFA-linked commercial contracts, FBI agents detained Tapia and Toviggino at New York’s JFK Airport on Monday morning before they boarded a flight to Buenos Aires following the World Cup final.
“It is completely untrue to claim that Claudio Tapia or Pablo Toviggino have been summoned to give evidence by the U.S. courts, just as it is untrue to claim that their mobile phones or any other electronic devices have been seized,” an AFA statement said on Wednesday.
AFA did state that a third party has been summoned “to appear before a U.S. grand jury and potentially provide evidence about several people, including officials from the organization.”
However, it did not name the third party but reiterated that U.S authorities were not focusing on Tapia or Toviggino.
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“The document in question does not provide for any measures specifically concerning the AFA President or its Treasurer; it does not order them to appear; it does not impose any procedural obligations on them; nor does it record any proceedings for the seizure or confiscation of their properties.”
An Argentina delegation, led by Tapia, landed in Buenos Aires on Monday afternoon following the team’s 1-0 extra-time defeat to Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final in New Jersey.
