Last Friday, Pedro Rocha went to the Majadahonda courts to testify as a witness – therefore with the obligation to tell the truth – before the magistrate investigating several cases of corruption in the Football Federation (RFEF) during the time of Luis Rubiales, of the that Rocha has been vice president and economic vice president, in addition to serving as president of the management company. Rocha entered as a witness and left as an investigation. The video of his statement, to which elDiario.es has had access, shows how the questions progress in a tense session, full of evasion, “I don't know” and some contradictions.
One of the questions that the judge repeated most was about his role in the Federation and the Super Cup contract, which he took to Saudi Arabia in exchange for 40 million annually for the RFEF and 4 million annually for the footballer and businessman Gerard Piqué. whose accounts in Andorra are also being investigated. The reason for the interest of justice is that Andreu Camps, former general secretary of Rubiales, declared before the same judge in February that the economic commission chaired by Rocha had to approve all the contracts and also that of the Super Cup, which is why the questions of the interrogation were aimed at determining the functions of that commission and the responsibility of the current only candidate to preside over the RFEF.
When Rocha was questioned about why Rubiales chose him as economic vice president in 2020, he did not give a clear answer nor linked to his merits: “I would do it because I was one of the oldest members and I have a good image, and it was surely the profile.” “My role was representative,” he insisted on numerous occasions, removing himself from the management responsibilities that, according to him, were carried out by the department directors, four of whom were charged. Rocha also answered the judge that his academic qualification “is life”, that when he arrived at the management company he received the same salary as Rubiales – more than 600,000 euros per year – and insisted on his merits to be vice president with a “I don't know” , a phrase he repeated on numerous occasions, in addition to declaring himself a businessman.
Throughout the statement, Rocha said he knew “nothing” about the Super Cup contract, despite the fact that Camps had stated that it had to go through his commission. Not even when his colleague, the Vice President of Integrity, resigned, did he know what she was about? The prosecutor asked him, to which Rocha answered evasively and claiming that he did not ask him the reason. The presidential candidate clung during his statement to the fact that this contract with Arabia, like that of the Gruconsa construction company that is being investigated for the works at the La Cartuja stadium, did not go through the economic commission that he chaired.
He declared that he knew nothing about the hiring of the law firm of another person involved, Tomás González Cueto, or what he was hired for. However, upon arriving at Gruconsa's latest contract during the interrogation, with Rocha already president of the management company, the candidate limits himself to saying that he was informed that that company had been chosen – despite previous suspicions about this construction company – , but that the decision was made by the technicians.
The prosecutor's questions are sometimes answered with evasion or a certain discomfort, especially when he insists on how he could not have found out about the Saudi Arabia contract or how he says that he did not have a signature if he had powers of representation of the RFEF before a notary: ” Powers of…? “It was a representative position,” he insists. “Where does it say that you were a representative?” the prosecutor asks him, to which Rocha does not know how to answer. In fact, he goes so far as to say: “I am finding out now that there is an extension from Arabia, because it did not go through the economic commission.” The prosecutor replies: “So until now you didn't know until when the Super Cup would be played in Saudi Arabia?”
The questions and answers are repeated in this tone, until the prosecutor explains that his status changes from witness to being investigated, so he will testify with a lawyer, to which the magistrate agrees before a Pedro Rocha who is perplexed and asks for an explanation.
