VIDEO. Corruption case: just returned from a business trip, Luis Rubiales summoned before Spanish justice

Luis Rubiales est rentré en Espagne après un voyage d’affaires à Punta Cana. MAXPPP – SERGIO PEREZ

Luis Rubiales, former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), was informed by police on Wednesday that he was a suspect in a corruption investigation and called to appear in court.

Luis Rubiales, who has denied any wrongdoing, arrived at Madrid-Barajas airport at 11:00 a.m. from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where he spent two months on what he describes as a business trip.

🚨 RUBIALES, BAJO CUSTODIA en su llegada a ESPAÑA.🚨

🚓 Ha subido a una furgoneta de la Guardia Civil minutos después de aterrizar. pic.twitter.com/5TSy5qhkzo

— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) April 3, 2024

Since June 2022, a Madrid court has investigated Luis Rubiales who allegedly committed an offense of unfair administration when the RFEF concluded an agreement worth around 120 million euros with the ;rsquo;company Kosmos to relocate the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. The Kosmos firm is owned by former Barcelona player Gerard Piqué.

Seven people arrested

While Luis Rubiales was abroad, a Spanish judge ordered a series of searches of offices and properties in an investigation into alleged corruption, unfair administration and money laundering during his mandate as president of the RFEF.

Also read:Forced kiss affair: two and a half years in prison required against Luis Rubiales, former boss of the Spanish Federation

Police searched the RFEF headquarters in the suburbs of Madrid and Luis Rubiales' apartment in Granada on March 20, as well as a stadium in Seville. Seven people have been arrested so far.

In an interview with the Spanish television channel La Sexta published this Wednesday and of which extracts were broadcast, Luis Rubiales denied having accepted bribes and declared that his income was the result of his work and his savings.

He also confirmed that Spanish police raided his temporary accommodation in the Dominican Republic on Monday and seized a cell phone.

In September, Luis Rubiales resigned from his post as president of the RFEF before being excluded a month later by Fifa from any football-related activity for three years for having kissed without his consent player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during Spain’s world title celebrations. Luis Rubiales maintained that it was a consensual act and denied any wrongdoing, but the Spanish prosecution requested a prison sentence of two and a half years against him.