Jadue case prescribed in Chile: court closes FIFA Gate process after a decade
Santiago's 13th Court of Guarantee ordered an end to the criminal proceedings against the former ANFP chief. The Public Ministry is evaluating whether to appeal the ruling.
Santiago court declares statute of limitations expired in case against former Chilean football leader
A Santiago court ended criminal proceedings on Tuesday against Sergio Jadue, former president of Chile's National Association of Professional Football (ANFP), according to bostonherald.com. The capital's 13th Court of Guarantee accepted the statute of limitations argument raised by defence lawyer Marcelo Hadwa, given that the charges before Chilean justice date from 2015 and 2016, more than a decade ago.
The ruling closes the case opened in Chile against Jadue, who headed the ANFP between 2011 and 2015 and was investigated for tax crimes and misappropriation of funds in the context of FIFA Gate, the scandal that exposed one of the largest corruption schemes in world football.
The Public Ministry does not rule out appealing the decision. "This ruling is fundamentally appealable," prosecutor Marco Paredes told journalists. "The Public Ministry, when it has the ruling in its hands and when it is notified, will evaluate filing the appeal."
Jadue left Chile in late 2015, shortly after authorities in the United States and Switzerland accused senior football officials and leaders from various federations of bribery, money laundering and fraud committed over decades. The former official has resided in the United States for more than ten years, where he awaits sentencing after pleading guilty before United States justice.
Several aspects of the FIFA Gate scandal remain under judicial investigation. Since May 2015, when the first officials were detained on the eve of the FIFA Congress in Zurich, more than 25 people have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit unlawful acts, fraud by electronic means and money laundering.
Among those implicated are two former Paraguayan leaders of CONMEBOL, Nicolás Leoz—who died in 2019—and José Ángel Napout, as well as Eugenio Figueredo (former president of CONMEBOL and the Uruguayan federation), Luis Bedoya (Colombia), Rafael Esquivel (Venezuela), Luis Chiriboga (Ecuador) and José María Marín (Brazil), who died last year.
Then FIFA president Joseph Blatter was suspended for eight years from all football-related activity. In 2021, the organisation imposed a further ban of six years and eight months on him for corruption.
Source: Google News CL — Crime