The second day of the Major League Soccer of the first division scheduled for the weekend has been suspended one day after the Prosecutor’s Office searched the headquarters of the Salvadoran Soccer Federation (Fesfut) in an investigation for alleged money laundering.
Fesfut announced on social networks the suspension of referee appointments for matches in the first, second and third divisions, in addition to the departmental teams.
“The arbitration appointments for the Professional Leagues (First, Second and Third Division) and the Departmental Selection Tournament (ADFAS) have been suspended for this weekend’s matches, dated July 16 and 17, 2022,” the Federation published in its Twitter account without offering further details.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the Police raided the Fesfut facilities on Thursday as part of an investigation for alleged fraudulent administration and money laundering for a complaint filed by a government sports entity.
The institution pointed out on social networks that “during the second day of registration at the Fesfut facilities, the documentation that supports the indications of fraudulent administration in said institution has been found.”
In a statement by a prosecutor, released by the Public Ministry, he pointed out that “it is expected to obtain computer backups” of computers and servers, for which the Fesfut headquarters is closed.
View today of a police vehicle at the headquarters of the Salvadoran Football Federation
The federation has also suspended a congress to ratify or elect new directors. “According to the investigations, the crimes of fraudulent administration and money and asset laundering in the administration of Fesfut had been committed from 2018 to 2022,” the Prosecutor’s Office reported on Thursday.
He added that “these actions, coordinated with Ocular Inspections of the National Civil Police, derive from the notice presented by the National Sports Institute of El Salvador (INDES)”, directed by a brother of President Nayib Bukele.
Yamil Bukele, president of INDES, has criticized the Fesfut authorities on several occasions and in early May 2022 he presented a notice to the FGR, where he was received by the attorney general, Rodolfo Delgado.
The authorities of El Salvador extradited to the United States in January 2021 the former president of Fesfut Reynaldo Vásquez, linked to a major corruption scandal that affected dozens of FIFA managers.
Vásquez had been claimed by the US Justice since 2015 for his alleged participation in crimes of “electronic fraud, criminal association to launder money and money laundering.”
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