In recent weeks, two judicial decisions marked a turning point in the cases investigating the top authorities of Argentine football: Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia, president of the AFA, and Pablo Toviggino, its treasurer. The investigations seem to be advancing, and every attempt to divert or halt them is met with a response in some courts.
Days ago, the Criminal Economic Chamber flatly rejected the appeal filed by Luciano Pantano and his mother, Ana Lucía Conte, identified as alleged front men for Toviggino, to keep the case over the mansion valued at 17 million dollars in the friendly court of Zárate-Campana. Shortly after, the indictment of Tapia and Toviggino for wrongful retention and evasion of more than 19.3 billion pesos in taxes and contributions was confirmed. The Justice rejected their defenses and ordered deeper investigations, trying to block maneuvers that had delayed the process for months.
For years, the AFA operated under a kind of logic of sovereign exceptionalism: a micro-state where the laws of the Republic seemed like mere optional suggestions. The recent judicial setback suffered by the leadership of local football appears to mark a turning point against the procedural shield over Tapia and Toviggino. It now remains for the controversial federal judge of Campana, Adrián González Charvay, to send the case file without further delay and for the investigation to advance until the full truth is reached. Argentine football does not deserve dark areas regarding its accounts or the destination of its resources.
The marked reluctance of the aforementioned magistrate to send the case to Judge Verónica Straccia is not a minor technical detail; it is another obscene warning sign of how the timing of justice is manipulated to avoid or delay substantive measures. The recent ruling by judges Gustavo Hornos and Carolina Robiglio, dismissing the appeal and ratifying the jurisdiction of the criminal economic court, is a necessary step toward institutional normalization. However, the speed that the case demands, and that the Cassation Chamber itself called for, remains lacking.
It is no longer enough to have rulings that, although correct, come late. Society is fed up with seeing how control mechanisms are circumvented while the protagonists of this dirty web continue to operate with total impunity. Football is passion, but it must also respect the laws and institutions, as well as public and private assets and money. When financial actions become contrary to the law, trust crumbles.
The ongoing judicial cases do not represent any persecution. On the contrary, they are part of the oversight that every democratic society must guarantee so that the flagship sport does not become a permanent and murky refuge for irregularities, scams, and mobsters.
Para mí esto huele a que Tapia y Toviggino se creían intocables, pero la justicia les frenó el choreo. Ojalá les caiga todo el peso de la ley por la guita que se afanaron del fútbol. Viva la justicia, carajo, que se pudran en cana.
Para mí esto huele a que al fin le ponen el cascabel al gato. Tapia y Toviggino son chorros de la AFA que chorean la guita del fútbol popular mientras los pibes se matan en potreros. Yo creo que se tienen que pudrir en cana, basta de impunidad para la mafia del fútbol, che. ¡Viva la lucha de clases, carajo!