Ex-soccer chief Rubiales handed courtroom summons on return to Spain

Luis Rubiales, the disgraced former Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) chief, was knowledgeable by police on his return to Spain on Wednesday that he was a suspect in a corruption probe and advised to look earlier than an area courtroom, a judicial supply stated.

Rubiales, who has denied any wrongdoing, arrived in Madrid on a flight from the Dominican Republic, the place he had spent two months on what he described as a enterprise journey.

Police didn’t reply to requests for remark.

While Rubiales was overseas a Spanish decide ordered searches of places of work and properties linked to a probe into alleged corruption, improper administration and cash laundering throughout his tenure as president of the RFEF.

A Madrid courtroom has been investigating since June 2022 whether or not Rubiales dedicated against the law of improper administration when the RFEF agreed with former Barcelona participant Gerard Pique’s Kosmos agency to relocate the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia in a deal value a reported €120 million euros ($129 million).

Police had searched the RFEF’s headquarters outdoors Madrid and Rubiales’ condo within the southern Spanish metropolis of Granada on March 20, in addition to a soccer stadium in Seville. Seven folks have been arrested to this point.

In a La Sexta interview to be broadcast afterward Wednesday, Rubiales denied accepting bribes and stated his earnings had been a product of his work and financial savings, in response to promotional materials launched by the community.

Rubiales additionally confirmed Spanish police had searched his non permanent lodgings within the Dominican Republic on Monday, seizing a cell phone.

In September, he resigned as RFEF president and a month later was banned by FIFA from all soccer actions for 3 years for allegedly kissing participant Jenni Hermoso on the lips with out consent after Spain’s ladies’s World Cup triumph.

Rubiales argued it was consensual and has denied any wrongdoing however prosecutors are searching for a 2-1/2-year jail sentence after charging him with sexual assault and coercion.