The Eleventh Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the permanent dismissal of the case against Sergio Jadue, former president of the National Professional Football Association (ANFP), on Wednesday, October 21. The court rejected appeals by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service (SII).
According to Cooperativa, the court upheld the ruling issued on July 28 by Santiago’s 13th Guarantee Court. This closes the criminal prosecution in Chile against the football official from La Calera.
"Por compartir los argumentos de la decisión en alzada y atendido lo dispuesto en los artículos 253 y 370 del Código Procesal Penal, se confirma la resolución apelada", the ruling stated.
The case investigated possible financial and tax irregularities during Jadue’s tenure at the ANFP, between 2011 and 2015. According to BioBioChile, the charges concerned tax offenses and improper tax declarations.
In July, the court accepted the defense’s argument: more than ten years had passed since the acts were committed, meaning the statute of limitations had expired. The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the SII appealed in August.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintained that its last action took place in January 2017, when it asked the United States to extradite the defendant. Both the lower court and the Court of Appeals rejected that argument, finding that the case had been frozen for more than a decade.
The case dates back to November 2015. That month, Jadue abruptly resigned from the ANFP and traveled to Miami to cooperate as a protected FBI witness in FIFA Gate, the scandal involving bribes and illicit payments linked to South American football.
The ruling opens the possibility of Jadue returning to Chile, but not to football leadership. FIFA banned him for life from participating in domestic and international football activities after finding him guilty of violating five articles of its Code of Ethics, including Article 21, concerning bribery and corruption.
The unresolved proceedings are in the United States. Jadue remains based in Miami after admitting his involvement in FIFA Gate, and his sentencing in that case has been postponed on 16 occasions, according to BioBioChile. The sources do not report a date for the next hearing.
