Pandora Papers: The Mystery Of Julio Grondona’s Legacy In An Offshore In The Name Of His Son In Belize

Julio Grondona’s fortune is a mystery that, years after his death, justice has still not been able to solve. Pandora Papers now offers a new way to access private funds managed by the former president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), accused in US courts of receiving bribes in his role as world sports leader.

Humberto Mario Grondona, his eldest son, appears as the final beneficiary of a partnership off the coast with the same acronyms as the “Football for All” program, created in Belize, an opaque Caribbean jurisdiction, to receive money corresponding to his father’s legacy and “family businesses””. The information emerges from the leak coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in which he participated Infobae with La Nación and elDiarioAR.

Five months after the death of Julio Grondona, his son registered FPT Investments Limited, December 30, 2014, as part of the Overseas Management Company (OMC) study, to operate in Peru, Mexico, Chile and Argentina What was the origin of the money you were handling in a bank account ? “The funds come from income generated from his work as a football coach, income from family businesses in Argentina and a legacy.», Detail the documents that appear in Pandora Papers.

“A company? In my name? I wish that! I wouldn’t be in the situation I am in”, Grondona responded to a question from the Argentinian ICIJ team, who called the cell phone number listed on the forms for FPT Investments Limited. “It annoys me because I hired a lawyer when they started to say that there were millions deposited in Switzerland and that we did not find anything. Everything I have inherited is in sight, ”he said.

The data contained in Pandora Papers leaves little doubt. Documents related to this off the coast understand the signature and the handwritten clarification of Humberto Grondona, your mobile phone number and your e-mail. In this form of WTO study, the son of the former AF holder is defined as “technical director” and “journalist”.

Attached to this form filled out by hand by Grondona’s son in which he appears as “director”, there is a certificate of certification of his address on Juana Manso street in the Buenos Aires district of Puerto Madero, initialed and certified by the notary Fernando Mitjans, accompanied by a copy of his passport.

Additionally, in a telephone dialogue, Grondona requested that questions be sent to the same email box that appears in these documents. off the coast. But after sending this email, he did not respond to subsequent attempts by the ICIJ to contact him.

However, Grondona in the telephone conversation denied any connection with FPT Investments. “I don’t know all of this. I wish it were true because it would be financially good. But it’s not like that. My father died and a lot of wrong things were said, by people who wanted to save themselves from a court conviction by telling lies, ”he said.

The confessions of the Julius Baer bank

The heritage of his father, Julio Grondona, who was FIFA vice-president for decades, remains a mystery to investigators in Argentina and the United States.. The calculation of his fortune, however, starts from a number: the Swiss bank Julius Baer has confessed to the New York justice to have laundered 25 million dollars in bribes paid to the Argentine leader to enter the headquarters of the various football world cups.

Documents indicate that FPT Investments Limited was incorporated on December 30, 2014, in Belize, with an initial capital of USD 50,000. and four associated addresses. What are these four directions? One in Belize; the second in the free zone of Montevideo; the third in an apartment in the building located at 96 General Paz Street in the Avellaneda district; and the last one, Juana Manso street in Puerto Madero.

Grondona explained to Belizean authorities that in addition to the inheritance, funds for FPT Investments would come from Peru, Chile, Mexico and Argentina. In other words, these are the four countries where Humberto Grondona has led teams or national teams in recent years.

FIFA Gate tracks

The data it provides Pandora Papers add a new chapter to the FIFA Gate scandal. This new information about FPT Investments Limited complements what has been released in the United States since May 2015, when a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation led to arrests in various parts of the world and a global scandal.

As part of this investigation, the Swiss bank Julius Baer admitted in May this year and in a federal court in New York that “He laundered at least US $ 25 million for Grondona through the payment of bribes he received in exchange for TV rights to the 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030 World Cups in addition to other tournaments.”.

The bank explained that after Grondona’s death in July 2014, it carried out money laundering operations in Switzerland and the United States for the three heirs of the former Argentinian football boss. That is to say for Liliana, Julio and Humberto Grondona. The form that Humberto Grondona filled out before the Belizean authorities states that the company’s goal is to open bank accounts, but does not specify in which country.

As part of his deal with the Justice Department, Julius Baer further stated that Alexandre burzaco and other executives of Torneos y Competencias SA created two shell companies, FPT Sports SA and Arco Business and Developments Ltd, with which they opened accounts in Switzerland to make bribe payments.

One of the shell companies that Burzaco used to commit a crime and one owned by Humberto Grondona in Belize shares the first three letters: FPT. It coincides with the initials of the TV show “Fútbol Para Todos”.

As Burzaco and Julius Baer admitted in the United States, the deal was to pay Grondona, as head of the AFA and vice-president of FIFA, around US $ 30 million for the television rights of the World Cups. Of these funds, $ 25 million was paid to an FPT Sports sub-account.

“The purpose of placing funds in a sub-account, rather than the main account,” New York attorneys for Julius Baer explained, “was to hide funds, while allowing tournaments to receive bank statements to confirm that payments had been made”. Throughout the documents they presented to Justice, investigators referred to Julio Grondona with the nickname “Football Official No. 1”. But they provided sufficient evidence to identify him. Among them, who chaired the AFA, died on April 30, 2014 and left three heirs.

In this sense, Julius Baer clarified that Julio Grondona met an executive of the bank – who also collaborated with Justice – to give him instructions on how to invest the funds in this sub-account. After his death, the entity transferred more than $ 16.5 million in November 2014 to another account at the same bank in the name of the first of his heirs. In March 2015, during this time, Julius Baer transferred an additional $ 8 million to another account at another Swiss bank for Grondona’s second heir. And by then, he had already coordinated with his third heir to open another account at the bank and approve the deposit of three FIFA checks..

Before the ICIJ consultation for this note, Humberto Grondona separated from his brothers. “I just put my hands in the fire for myself. I am in conflict with my brothers because they did not respect the agreed distribution of the inheritance and I do not know what they did ”.

KEEP READING: