Portugal, Benfica under investigation for attempted corruption

LISBON. The Portuguese sports justice is investigating a possible case of corruption in the world of football that may have favored Benfica. The newspaper reported the news today Public, but the case was already known to ordinary justice, which in turn was dealing with it. According to what is known at the moment, the investigation would have as its main suspect the entrepreneur César Boaventura, who would have tried to convince some players of Rio Ave and Maritimo to favor the opponent in direct matches during the 2015/16 championship ( which ended with Benfica victorious for the third time in a run of five consecutive championships).

According to the complaints of some of these players, Boaventura would have promised 80,000 euros to anyone who got a yellow card in the first half and caused a penalty in the second. France’s Salin, goalkeeper at the Marítimo at the time, was reportedly promised a more lucrative contract at another international club. Some of the players involved even asked not to play to prevent an error on the pitch from being considered fraudulent.

The businessman had already been formally charged by the prosecutor for the same bribery attempt at the end of March. In the same period he was indicted in another trial for suspected tax fraud, fraud and money laundering always in the football field. However, although Boaventura liked to talk about himself as a man very close to the former Benfica president, Luís Filipe Vieira (who resigned in the summer of 2021 following his detention in another fraud and tax fraud investigation), he does not no link has ever been proven between the entrepreneur’s work and the managers of the football team.