Grondona Re-Elected as Argentine Football Association President Despite Allegations

FIFA’s senior vice-president Julio Grondona has won a record ninth four-year term as Argentine Football Association (AFA) president even after allegations of money laundering and fraud had been revealed.

He won the unanimous support of the 46 members of an a AFA congress on Tuesday to serve as association president until 2015.

On Monday, Argentine businessman Carlos Avila accused the 80-year-old of money laundering and corrupt administration, allegations that were shown on a TV programme aired on Canal America. The broadcaster is owned by Grondona rival Daniel Vila, president of the Independiente de Mendoza.

According to the Buenos Aires Herald, Avila’s lawyer, Mariano Cuneo Libarona, revealed the balances of Swiss bank accounts that he claimed were in the names of Grondona, family members and business partners totalling about $30 million. Libarona claimed the money was gained by corrupt means.

Grondona is also caught on hidden camera allegedly discussing sending “black money” to cable TV companies.

Grondona’s lawyer, Francisco Castex, said Monday’s programme was nothing more than another attempt by Vila to defame the AFA boss, insisting he had no clue where the bank records shown to viewers had come from and arguing that the videos were edited to distort the facts.

Grondona made headlines during the summer, when he labelled the English “liars” and “pirates” at the FIFA Congress in Zurich in a spat over England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid.

Grondona was first elected as AFA chair in 1979, just months after Argentina’s World Cup win.