Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower linked to the Football Leaks data files who was arrested in Hungary on Wednesday at the request of the Portuguese authorities, has been actively helping France’s prosecution services in their investigations into “money laundering the proceeds of aggravated tax evasion”, a probe which was opened following the first revelations by Mediapart and its partners in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) of investigations into corruption in the world of professional football.
The December 2016 revelations (see this summary with links to the separate reports), which rocked the sport with accounts of organised systems of fraud and tax evasion involving star players, managers and clubs, were based on documents obtained from the Football Leaks data which were analysed and investigated by the EIC media partnership. Beginning in November last year, Mediapart published a second series of Football Leaks revelations (see this report with page-three links to others).
Mediapart has obtained confirmation that Pinto was cooperating with the French prosecution services specialised in financial crime, the PNF, following a statement by his French lawyer, William Bourdon, to press agency AFP. “My client is today involved in active cooperation with the national financial crime prosecution services,” Bourdon said.
Contacted by Mediapart, the PNF declined to comment. Its investigation into tax fraud, which was launched in December 2016 immediately after the revelations published by Mediapart, initially centred on Argentinian footballer Angel Di Maria, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), his former team mate and compatriot Javier Pastore, and Lucho González, the Argentine midfielder who the Football Leaks documents revealed was paid by sportswear company Adidas via a structure in Panama when he was playing with French club Marseille.
The case against Di Maria was dropped after it was established the events concerned the Spanish tax authorities and not those in France.
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William Bourdon told the EIC that Rui Pinto has also agreed to cooperate with Swiss special prosecutor Damian K. Graf, who was appointed last November to lead an investigation into the relations between fellow Swiss public prosecutor Rinaldo Arnold and Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, the world governing body of association football. The probe followed EIC revelations based on the Football Leaks documents that Arnold had facilitated secret meetings between Infantino and the Swiss attorney general whose office was investigating allegations of corruption within FIFA, which is based in Zurich.
“I was able to meet my client last Tuesday,” Bourdon told the EIC. “He mandated me to give a favourable response to a request for cooperation addressed to him by the Swiss special prosecutor in charge of the investigation opened following the Football Leaks revelations.”
The cooperation between Pinto, 30, and the French and Swiss prosecution services was interrupted by his arrest in the Hungarian capital Budapest on Wednesday, a move which followed the issue of a European arrest warrant issued by the Portuguese authorities for his suspected “attempt of aggravated extorsion”, “violation of secrecy” and “illegitimate access” to data. The Portuguese investigation is led by the country’s cyber criminality police department.
“I dispute, with the utmost firmness, the accusations of attempted extorsion levelled against my client,” said Bourdon.
Pinto was presented before a Hungarian court on Friday morning, after spending 24 hours in custody in a Budapest police station, in order to establish whether he accepted a simplified procedure of extradition to Portugal, which he refused. The Hungarian authorities now have 60 days to decide whether to forcibly extradite Pinto. A second court hearing is now due when Pinto will have the opportunity to argue his case against the extradition demand.
In the meantime, he has been released on conditional bail, placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic tag. The Hungarian prosecution services, which had requested that Pinto be held in provisional detention, immediately appealed the court’s decision, but before that appeal is heard in court the Portuguese was allowed bail.
“My client has been freed and is currently at home,” added Bourdon, speaking on Friday afternoon after the court hearing.
The cooperation Pinto has agreed to with the French investigations and his intention to give his requested help to the Swiss special prosecutor may provide support to his legal case against extradition. Meanwhile, the fact that the French and Swiss prosecution services have requested his cooperation, and their interest in the information he has contributed to revealing, demonstrates the public interest of the Football Leaks disclosures.
In a joint statement issued on Thursday, Pinto’s French and Portuguese lawyers insisted he is a “whistleblower”, and denounce the move by the Portuguese authorities “to criminalise” his actions whereas he had contributed “to revealing to the world the extent of criminal practices”, adding that he had received repeated threats for his whistleblowing activities. They argued that Pinto “meets all the criteria for the protection of whistleblowers as laid down by the latest clauses of European law”.
That is also the opinion of the The Signals Network, a French-US foundation for the protection of whistleblowers and the freedom of information, which has pledged its support for Pinto, and notably to help with his legal aid. In a statement published by the foundation on Friday morning, it’s executive director, Delphine Halgand-Mishra, described the Football Leaks information as being “key revelations of high public interest”.
“These leaks have been investigated by major international media organisations including Der Spiegel, Mediapart and other members of European Investigative Collaborations (EIC Network) for several years,” added Halgand-Mishra. “None of the articles published were subjected to a complaint for defamation, as Mediapart highlights. Many Football Leaks revelations initiated judicial investigations across Europe, in France, in Switzerland, in Spain and even in the United States.”
“For all these reasons, Rui Pinto deserves to be supported by all those who are committed to defending press freedom and investigative journalism,” she concluded.
In the strict respect of the principle of protection of sources, the EIC does not identify those who provide credible information, verified by the EIC, and who wish to remain anonymous.
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- The French version of this report can be found here.
English version by Graham Tearse