Statements by directors of the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) before the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime prove that the president of the institution, Agustín Lozano Saavedra, and a closed group of leaders, were those who participated in a plot to grant the rights of transmission of local matches to the Chilean company 1190 Sports, simulating a tender to appear transparent and affecting the clubs that disagreed with the million-dollar commercial agreement.
For this reason, Judge Richard Concepción Carhuancho, at the request of prosecutor Juan Orihuela Legonia, ordered the arrest of 10 FPF executives, in addition to three other accomplices related to the events. Several of those arrested during the ‘Los Galacticos del Fútbol’ operation carried out on Thursday were mentioned by witnesses when they made their statements to the prosecutor.
The former vice president of the FPF until 2023 Víctor Rojas Tito, who was Agustín Lozano’s second, stated that only a few, very close to the president of the sports institution, participated in the contract business with 1190 Sports.
Joel Raffo Olcese, relative of Fernando Delgado Raffo, of the Prisma company. Photo: diffusion
This is what Víctor Rojas Tito said:
“I asked the engineer Agustín Lozano to attend those negotiations, authorizing me to attend and he told me the place, at the Swissotel Lima in San Isidro, in the office on the 1st floor. It was from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., in the August 2022, approximately. It was a meeting that took place before the public bidding for television rights. Present at this meeting were Mr. Joel Raffo (Olcese), the general secretary Jean (Robilliard Ibárcena), the president Agustín lozano Saavedra, the directors Carlos Isla (Montaño), Arturo Ríos (Ibáñez) and representatives of (the Chilean company) 1190 Sports. We all enter an office. But after introducing ourselves, they invited me to leave that meeting, leaving Mr. Joel Raffo, Jean Robilliard and other directors of that company. (…) I demanded an explanation of why they removed me from the meeting, and the director Carlos Isla and Arturo Ríos responded that it was a private meeting, and that we had to wait for the results.”
In the presentation of facts, prosecutor Juan Orihuela points out that Lozano and his associates hired the Chilean company Prisma to look for companies interested in a rights transfer contract for the transmission of soccer matches. They did so knowing that Prisma’s representative, Fernando Delgado Raffo, is a relative of Joel Raffo Olcese, an FPF director to whom Lozano entrusted the negotiations that resulted in the contract with 1190 Sports.
Former FPF Secretary General Óscar Chiri Gutiérrez. Photo: diffusion
This is what the director of the FPF, Juan Dupuy García, told the Prosecutor’s Office in this regard:
“I can point out that the international bidding process for television rights was advised by the Chilean company Prisma, with experience in the matter, whose decision was also agreed upon by the last board of directors, I understand that in a vote. Prisma is hired and, simultaneously, a commission of leaders is created to support and accompany Prisma in this bidding process. This commission was headed by Richard Acuña (Núñez, president), among others that I am not aware of. (…) (By) 2022 this process was not advancing, and thus it was decided to invite Joel Raffo Olcese (president of Sporting Cristal) to join this commission. His invitation was proposed, I believe, by (Agustín) Lozano Saavedra. We all had a good image of him. He is the one who assumes leadership, he is the one who goes to Chile to talk with 1190 Sports, and based on his management, the bidding processes were expedited, which was later declared void.”
So, after contracting with Prisma, represented by Fernando Delgado Raffo, Agustín Lozano brings Joel Raffo Olcese, a relative of his, to the FPF. Once Prisma presented 1190 Sports, with Chilean capitals like Prisma, Joel Raffo traveled to Chile with Agustín Lozano to meet with the directors of 1190 Sports and closed the agreement.
The details of the commercial agreement with 1190 Sports were declared secret by Agustín Lozano and his group of leaders. Before the Prosecutor’s Office, Lozano himself accepted it this way before the prosecutor Juan Orihuela:
“To prevent critics of the management of the Board of Directors from having access to relevant information about this operation, it had been kept confidential. But the members of the Board of Directors were aware of the proposal that had been previously shared internally among the members of the board, with a commitment to confidentiality.
Agustín Lozano Saavedra, however, did not mention the conflict of interest represented by the presence of Fernando Delgado Raffo (Prisma) and Joel Raffo Olcese (FPF). Prisma captured 1190 Sports, which was later hired by the FPF.
The administrator of Universitario, Jean Ferrari Chiabra, also testified before prosecutor Juan Orihuela, and gave details of how Agustín Lozano and the FPF acted with the clubs that did not agree with the transfer of broadcasting rights for local matches.
Juan Dupuy García said that Lozano did everything personally. Photo: diffusion
This is what he said:
“We received a document as a sworn statement conditioning our participation if we did not participate. It is a document that we could call a threat. The document signed by the general secretary of the FPF, Jean Robilliard Ibárcena, warned the football clubs with a threatening sense that the owner of the audiovisual rights is the FPF, and that not knowing this would lead to sanctions being initiated, such as suspending them or expelling them from the club. local championship organized by the FPF, and at an international level organized by Conmebol and FIFA. In that sense, said clubs would be prohibited from starting negotiations on the audiovisual rights owned by the FPF.”
Agustín Lozano designed a scheme of rewards and punishments for clubs that supported or opposed his management. The formula was to distribute money to those who applauded and sanction the rebels. Joel Raffo Olcese himself (director of the FPF and president of Sporting Cristal), explained it to the Prosecutor’s Office:
“All income that comes from FIFA and Conmebol enters the FPF and the FPF distributes them. There are also X subsidies, given the impact of the pandemic, Conmebol gave the FPF a quantity of funds and the FPF distributed those funds to the League 1 clubs, which I am aware of, for the payment of payrolls to footballers, so that these people are not left without income. The only amount we have received (as Sporting Cristal) for infrastructure investment purposes in 2023 was an infrastructure bonus of $500,000, among other aspects.”
Those “bonuses”, “advances” or “contributions” that Agustín Lozano and his entourage distributed in abundance, actually functioned as “prizes”, according to the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office in charge of the Los Galacticos del Fútbol case. But the clubs that questioned the commercial agreement with 1160 Sports, the details of which are unknown, did not receive the same treatment.
Director Víctor Rojas Tito stated that they took him out of a meeting with 1190 Sports. Photo: diffusion
EXPLODED
The importance of the Chilean company Prisma
● The former general secretary of the FPF Óscar Chiri Gutiérrez revealed that the Chilean company Prisma, the same one that forged the contract with 1190 Sports, had a key intervention in the football businesses.
● “Prisma supported the financing of three clubs in 2020 so that they would not be sold for ridiculous prices. Then, between 2022-2023 they will be sold collectively,” he told the Prosecutor’s Office. ● Prisma was then hired to advise the FPF to negotiate the transfer of broadcasting rights. He pointed out that it was a decision that only two directors signed in a minute.
● “In September 2020, a consulting contract was signed with the company Prisma, and there is a document signed only by Agustín Lozano Saavedra and Raúl Bao García,” he said.
● As indicated, Prisma is represented by Fernando Delgado Raffo, a relative of the FPF director, Joel Raffo Olcese.
DETAILS
● On the network. According to the prosecutor in the case, the FPF directors, Arturo Ríos Ibáñez and Lucio Alva Ochoa, participated in the hiring of 1190 Sports.
● Them too. Although Ben Ríos and Alva do not have an arrest warrant, their homes were raided by court order for their involvement in ‘Los Galacticos del Fútbol’. It is the same situation as Juan La Rosa Llontop and Raúl Bao García.
