Former head of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, who was at the center of Spain’s ‘Kissgate’ scandal, was arrested by authorities on Wednesday morning.
Detectives were waiting for him when he got off an Air Europa flight from the Dominican Republic that landed at Madrid’s Barajas airport shortly after 10:30 a.m. local time.
Rubiales was taken into the custody of the Civil Guard as soon as he got off the plane and was escorted to a police van.
Speculation arose overnight as to whether the 46-year-old father of three would be arrested and led out of the arrivals area in handcuffs to be greeted by an army of waiting journalists and photographers.
He is scheduled to be taken to a police station where he is expected to be formally read his rights and served with a court summons as part of an ongoing corruption investigation linked to his time as head of the Spanish Football Federation and which focuses in commercial agreements that are believed to include one to hold the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales was reportedly arrested on Wednesday amid an ongoing corruption investigation related to his time as head of the Spanish Football Federation.
A Spanish court investigates Rubiales (left) for the 2019 decision to move the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia
The Spanish Civil Guard awaits Rubiales’ arrival at Madrid airport on Wednesday
Police raided former FA president Rubiales’ apartment last month
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He is expected to be questioned by a judge in a closed-door hearing in the coming days before being released on bail pending an ongoing investigation.
The investigation, led by a judge from Majadahonda, on the outskirts of Madrid, is unrelated to the separate ‘Kissgate’ investigation.
Last month, prosecutors involved in that case said they were seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the “unwanted” kiss Rubiales gave soccer player Jenni Hermoso after the Spanish women’s team’s victory over England in last August.
They said in an indictment sent to Madrid-based Judge Francisco de Jorge that they wanted him jailed for a year if convicted at trial of sexual assault and another year and a half for coercion related to his alleged attempts to get the footballer speaks out in his defense after his kiss at the World Cup.
Around the same time, Spanish prosecutors called for Rubiales to be arrested for alleged financial irregularities while he was in charge of the Spanish Football Federation.
Rubiales’ home in the southern Spanish city of Granada was one of several properties searched on March 20, but it was already in the Caribbean.
Rubiales had already said that he would return to Spain and insisted that it would be on April 6, but overnight it was learned that he had changed his travel plans.
He is believed to have avoided an embarrassing arrest and a photo of himself in handcuffs, after confirming his voluntary return before and after a Spanish police operation in the Dominican Republic on Monday with the help of local officers.
He rescheduled his return to Madrid after Spanish police investigators flew to the Caribbean and confiscated his phone and a laptop during a search of the property where he is staying on the Caribbean island.
Rubiales kissed Hermoso on the lips without his consent after Spain’s success in the World Cup
The Spanish prosecutor’s office is pressing for Rubiales to receive a sentence of two and a half years in prison for ‘Kissgate’
Rubiales has denied wrongdoing in both the ongoing corruption investigation and the ‘Kissgate’ case.
In a television interview with Spanish journalist Ana Pastor, which will be broadcast tonight on La Sexta, he will deny accusations of embezzling millions of pounds from the Spanish Football Federation and insist: “My money is the product of my work and my savings.” “.
He is also expected to accuse the judge who accused him of coercion and sexual assault for his “unwanted” kiss on Jenni Hermoso of manipulation, saying, “I think the way you describe my words is manipulative.”
A clip of the interview released overnight shows Rubiales, who traveled to the Dominican Republic earlier this year for work reasons, reacting angrily to Ana Pastor’s claims that her defense involved attacking the soccer player.
Pastor was traveling on the same plane as the former president of the Spanish Football Federation, who occupied seat number 25L, and described the flight as “accident” because there was turbulence and several people fainted.
The defiant Rubiales promised to “defend his innocence” after announcing on September 10 last year that he was resigning as president of the Spanish Football Federation following the “Kissgate” scandal. He was subsequently banned from playing football by FIFA for three years.
When his decision to resign became public, he tweeted: “I will defend my honorability.” I will defend my innocence.
‘I have faith in the future. I have faith in the truth. Thank you all.’
He ended his tweet by posting a photo of the Spanish flag.
Spanish international footballer Hermoso photographed arriving at Madrid court in January
Rubiales, who had apologized for grabbing his crotch during the post-World Cup final celebrations in front of Queen Letizia of Spain and her 16-year-old daughter, had said in a lengthy statement before announcing his decision to resign: “Spontaneity and the happiness of the historical moment led us to carry out a mutual and consensual act, the product of great enthusiasm.
‘At no time was there any aggression, in fact, there was not even the slightest discomfort, but rather an overflowing joy in both of us.’
Ángeles Béjar, Rubiales’ 72-year-old mother, went on a hunger strike at a church in her son’s hometown of Motril, near Granada, for two days after being rushed to hospital 48 hours after her death. protest.
She said at the time that she had released it so Jenni would ‘tell the truth’ about the kiss.
Speaking from inside the church before he fell ill, he said: ‘I just want the truth to be told.
‘She knows that my son is very honest. If she tells the truth, everything will be fine.
Ángeles Béjar (left), Rubiales’ 72-year-old mother, went on a hunger strike at a church in her son’s hometown of Motril, near Granada, for two days.
The incident completely overshadowed Spain’s World Cup victory and sparked outrage across the football world, sparking one of the worst crises in the history of sport in Spain.
The date for his trial for Jenni Hermoso’s kiss has not yet been announced.
Rubiales has not been formally charged with any crime as part of Operation Brody, the ongoing investigation linked to alleged irregularities while he was still president of the Spanish Football Federation.
However, a judge is investigating him on suspicion of crimes such as corruption and money laundering.
Respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo said overnight that police investigators had concluded that Rubiales diverted at least €3.8m (£3.25m) from the Spanish Football Federation to a construction company that paid bribes to through a company controlled by a close friend.