The president of Sporting, Frederico Varandas, announced this Monday that the club will request the opening of the investigation phase of the case of César Boaventura, due to the lack of accusation of Luís Filipe Vieira and Benfica SAD.
“With all the respect that the Public Ministry deserves, we do not agree with the accusation. Or rather, we agree with everything that is there, but a central piece is missing. The MP is accusing the messenger, but not the mentor and beneficiary of this organized crime, we are going to request the opening of this case”, said the sports leader in an interview with Sporting TV.
And he specified: “We believe that in this process the messenger is accused and not the main beneficiary, in this case Luís Filipe Vieira and Benfica SAD. It is an error that can be corrected.”
“Sporting was one of the biggest victims of this criminal scheme. It is evident that Sporting is not satisfied and will fight for justice. This is disgusting. A disgust not very different from that of Apito Dourado 20 years ago”, lamented the president of the lions, continuing: “20 years ago we had one of the biggest embarrassments in football and we continue to pretend that they did not exist. Those bugs are real and there was a president who continues to be today who is openly corrupting the referees with prostitutes. There is no court that prevents me from changing my mind. Even if they sentence me three times. That man could never lead anything from a sporting point of view”, he said, without mentioning never the name of Pinto da Costa.
Frederico Varandas says that the Public Ministry “considers that César Boaventura, in a personal hobby, spends 480 thousand euros for his team to win.”
The Leonese president also addressed the E-Mole case. “Paulo Gonçalves is convicted of corruption of judicial officials. Paulo Gonçalves was a legal adviser, he participated in League meetings. One of the deputy’s justifications is that Boaventura was not an employee of Benfica. Paulo Gonçalves or that”, he referred.
“In addition to E-Toupeira, there is a case that has not yet been tried, which is the case of Saco Azul. We have a club that has a false invoice scheme to release a million euros in cash. Then there are the payments from these companies to a referee (…) Benfica will be accused of tax evasion, but why does a club need a million euros in cash?”, questioned the president of Sporting.
And he compares it with an international case: “So far, in Italy, Juventus lost 15 points for tax evasion and all administrators have been suspended.”
“What hurts me is that 20 years later we are seeing another shameful case pass through the raindrops,” said Frederico Varandas.
The president of Sporting guarantees that the club is a coadjuvant in all the processes, except in that of Bolsa Azul, since “the process is only one of tax evasion.”
When asked if Rui Costa is different from Luís Filipe Vieira, Varandas is not adamant, but he has a belief: “I think the president Rui Costa was not involved and did not know what was happening. But now he knows. Much more important what happened.” we say is what we do. It is not enough to say that we are different, we have to show that we are different. (…) I do not agree with the president Rui Costa when he came to call on all Benfica fans to remain immune to this external noise. It is not outside noise. It is very internal noise ”.
Regarding arbitration, the President of Sporting considers that it is currently “much better” and recalls old cases.
“A vice president of the Arbitration Council, Ferreira Nunes, went to court as a witness for E-Toupeira and admitted that he received tickets to go to Dortmund-Benfica and that Paulo Gonçalves paid for his hotel and thought it was normal”, he recalled.
And he fired: “This shows the state of rottenness that was the level of management in arbitration. I think that the referees were very victims of the Arbitration Council.”
Frederico Varandas also addressed the sporting point of view of this season, lamenting the “lack of regularity” at the beginning of the season, which separated Sporting from the title accounts and left Benfica with praise.
“We have a leader who has been very competent. He is a fair leader. He has been very regular. Even in a match where he doesn’t play that well, he wins,” he said.
The Sporting president highlighted the great games of the time, highlighting the victories over Tottenham and Arsenal, and the draw with Benfica.
Lastly, he addressed the club’s accounts: “Today we are much more comfortable. It is no coincidence that the five biggest sales in the club’s history have been made during this term.”
The entry into the Champions League, which according to Varandas would be “fair”, is important for the accounts for next season and, if it does not enter, it will have to “have greater income from the sale of players.”
Source: TSF
