The Judicial Council (CJ) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) this Thursday filed a lawsuit against Mário Costa, who resigned as President of the General Assembly of the League of Clubs, following suspicions of involvement in human trafficking.
In a statement, the CJ of the FPF revealed that he had received a complaint about the company BSports, said to be headed by Mário Costa, who resigned his position in the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) on Wednesday, June 14.
“It is the duty of the CJ of the FPF to exercise disciplinary authority over the holders of the governing bodies of the ordinary members of the FPF, as is the case for the LPFP, for acts committed in the exercise of their functions as directors “, the federative body clarified in the statement signed by its president, Luís Verde de Sousa.
In this sense, “given the content of the information contained in the complaint, and since the disciplinary responsibility has not been extinguished by the resignation of the position, the CJ of the FPF decided in a meeting on June 15, 2023 to open an investigative process start, with material correspondence with the investigative process, to establish any disciplinary violations by Dr. Mário Costa”.
On Monday the 12th, the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) conducted an investigation into human trafficking.
Mário Costa, now former chairman of the board of directors of the General Assembly of the LPFP, is one of seven defendants, accompanied by two other individuals and five companies, according to the SEF, which also reported having identified 47 victims of human trafficking. of which 36 were minors and nine were young adults, out of a total of 85 foreigners identified.
The minors were placed in social security institutions under the direction of the Commission for the Protection of Children and Youth and the Court for Families and Minors of Vila Nova de Famalicão.
In a letter to Lusa, Raul Soares da Veiga, Mário Costa’s lawyer, confirmed the resignation, assuming that “when everything is clarified and the process filed, Mário Costa will work with the LPFP again with the same enthusiasm as ever”.
Source: DN
