Sporting president Frederico Varandas defended this Monday that Benfica SAD and its former president Luís Filipe Vieira are among those accused of recent proceedings for alleged corruption in football and asked the judiciary for courage.
“The Public Prosecution Service (MP) accuses the messenger, but not the true mastermind and beneficiary of all this organized crime. We will ask for the opening of the instruction”, said Varandas in an interview with Sporting TV, referring to the case of businessman César Boaventura, recently formally accused of bribing four opponents of Benfica to favor Luz’s emblem.
The leonine president recalled the relationship between the agent and former president Luís Filipe Vieira, something he said is evidenced by the accusation of the MP himself and therefore he was incredulous by the absence of the former leader “incarnated” and also of Benfica SAD off the list of suspects.
“Nobody wants it. It’s in nobody’s mind to spend €480,000 just to let Benfica win a game. The messenger is accused, the main beneficiary, Luís Filipe Vieira, and Benfica SAD does.” that’s not it. It’s a bug that we hope will be fixed”he said.
Varandas remembered the e-mole case, in which Paulo Goncalves, “former right-hand man of Luís Filipe Vieira and legal adviser to SAD incarnate”was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, with a suspended sentence, according to the manager, for corruption with court officials, without Benfica suffering any repercussions.
“Even now, Juventus was left without 15 points for tax fraud and for falsifying financial balances. All administrators were suspended. Already in 2006, it had dropped to the second division due to sports corruption. It is clear that Sporting was the victim here. It was a of the main victims of this criminal scheme of millions from the point of view of sporting and financial damage”he said.
Like all these cases, since 2018 the leader of the Alvalade emblem has regretted and criticized the silence and behavior of the current president of Benfica, Rui Costa.
“I think he wasn’t involved and didn’t know what was going on, but he is now. I think what we do is much more important than what we say. It’s not enough to say we’re different, we have to show that we are different. Often it is these decisions or not decisions that kill us for life. No matter the moment, whether we win or lose, we have to show with actions that we are different.”he stressed.
For Varandas, such situations, such as the Golden Whistle, in which FC Porto were involved in the past, make him “disgusted”, especially when he sees that “corruption is still present in Portuguese football” in recent decades.
“For 20 years we have experienced one of the greatest disgrace of sports justice, and beyond. And today we continue to pretend they did not exist. But in those taps is a president who corrupts referees and offers prostitutes. This gentleman remains president. I could never direct anything.”said Varandas, referring to FC Porto leader Pinto da Costa.
In this interview, the ‘Leonine’ leader repeatedly referred to the example of the English League, the “best league in the world because there are no cases of corruption and because there are no figures like César Boaventura”.
“It’s not worth talking about centralization of television rights, even with this kind of thing. If the country doesn’t believe in its own justice, it’s very hard for my own children to grow up here”he concluded.
Source: DN
