French prosecutors seek access to Football Leaks whistleblower Rui Pinto's secret files

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The French financial crimes prosecution unit the Parquet National Financier (PNF) has written to the Portuguese authorities asking to question the Football Leaks whistleblower Rui Pinto. They also want full access to the 70 million or so confidential documents that he has obtained on the world of professional football. Pinto is currently on trial in Portugal charged with computer hacking, violation of private correspondence and attempted blackmail, which together carry a possible jail term of 25 years. The move by the French prosecutors is good news for Pinto, however, as it supports his claim that his sole motive was to expose corruption and fraud in the sport. Yann Philippin reports.

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The French financial crimes prosecution unit the Parquet National Financier (PNF) is seeking to get full access to all the Football Leaks documents in order to pursue its investigation into alleged corruption in professional football. Mediapart and our Portuguese partner Expresso have learnt that the PNF wrote to the Portuguese legal authorities on September 9th announcing that it would soon be sending a formal request for a European investigation order seeking access to the confidential documents obtained by whistleblower Rui Pinto. The French authorities also want to question Pinto, whose documents are behind the Football Leaks revelations and also the Malta Files and Luanda Leaks.

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