Bullrich reports AFA president and treasurer to CONMEBOL ethics committee

Senator Patricia Bullrich has reported the Argentine Football Association’s (AFA) President Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia and treasurer Pablo Toviggino to the ethics committee of CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation. She filed the formal complaint while Argentine football is engulfed by a scandal over a financial firm allegedly used to channel and hide illicit transactions. “They must thoroughly investigate this mafia that runs the AFA and tarnishes Argentine football,” Bullrich posted on X. Argentina’s judiciary is conducting a major money laundering probe into the financial company Sur Finanzas.  On Friday, 54 luxury vehicles were seized in a raid of a 10-hectare mansion in Pilar. The property’s registered owner was a company run by a young man and his mother, but investigators believe they were providing a front for Tapia, according to local media. “With these mansions, Ferraris and all this dirty money we’ve been seeing, I’m asking: where’s the money that comes in through advertising and the national team?” Bullrich wrote, and posed questions about Sur Finanzas’ role in Argentine football. “The list of irregularities and shady money management is endless,” she added. Toviggino, the AFA’s treasurer, responded on X that Argentine football’s governing body “is a private association, not a state institution” and therefore “its contracts are not governed by public procurement law.” He added the AFA’s revenue goes into “supporting 1,300 permanent staff without state subsidies” and “maintaining world-class training facilities.” Neither Tapia nor Toviggino have been charged with any crimes at the time of writing. Sur Finanzas owner Ariel Vallejo is being investigated over money laundering offenses. His company has sponsored the Copa de la Liga Profesional tournament twice, and several Argentine clubs have worked with the company. In 2023, he said that he and Tapia had a “very nice relationship.” The offices of the AFA and 17 football clubs were raided last week, including major names like Racing, San Lorenzo, and Independiente. Toviggino versus Bullrich It’s not the first time Toviggino and Bullrich have traded blows. In July, while Bullrich was security minister, she accused Toviggino of acting like a hooligan and threatened to bar him from matches. It came during a dispute over a decision to allow away fans at matches. Toviggino tweeted at former Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos: “I WISH you a VERY HAPPY AND SAD ENDING…SOON!”  Bullrich said the words constituted a death threat.  “If we want to have away fans on the stands, we need an AFA that leads by example, not directors who behave like barrabravas,” Bullrich wrote on X.