Osiris Guzmán presided over Fedofutbol from 1998 until 2018, when he was expelled by the international football Federation (FIFA) for 10 years. Guzmán has defended his management at the helm of Fedofutbol.
Now, after an audit has been completed, FIFA and the Dominican Football Federation (Fedofútbol) have filed a lawsuit against Guzmán. He is accused of fraud and abuse of trust. The audit looked into the use of funds allocated for the development of football in the country and the construction of the San Cristóbal football venue.
“There is sufficient evidence to conclude that during the period from 2014 to 2018 Osiris Guzmán Delgado handled the institution’s accounts in a discretionary manner and nontransparent manner, diverting the institution’s funds for his own benefit and that of third parties,” says the complaint submitted to the National District Attorney’s Office by the law firm Headrick Rizik Álvarez & Fernández.
The lawyers allege that Guzmán violated articles 405 and 408 of the Criminal Code, and accuse him of fraud and abuse of trust. These crimes are punishable by between six months and two years. The investigation of the local branch of Ernest & Young lasted from January to June of this year and covered the Fedofutbol presidency from 2014-2018.
Among other evidence for the complaint, the lawsuit states that Guzmán allocated RD$1,165,200″. to himself from March to June 2017. The detail of the checks established it was for “incentive for the president of the Federation”.
The audit also revealed that in October 2018, a check was issued for “accommodation of the men’s team for the Nations Cup” for RD$881,433.60 in the name of Costasur Dominicana. But an invoice from Costasur Dominicana was not found to support the amount of the check written to the Fedofutbol account.
In July 2015, Fedofútbol issued a check for RD$592,707.92 for “U-17 qualifying accommodation” in the name of Juan de León Medrano, a former footballer from San Cristóbal. It was not possible to identify the event to which the disbursement referred, nor was it possible to check the details of the athletes, assistants, technical staff whose lodging would have been covered by the payment, according to the report. De León Medrano also received three checks totaling RD$423,000. The checks were in payment of loans, without further details.
The auditors revealed there are no documents to back a transfer of RD$576,545 paid by Guzmán to the company Carvajal Servicios Eléctricos for the “construction of a bench with seat and polycarbonate protection in the Pan American Stadium (in San Cristóbal).” Likewise, the auditors did not locate sufficient appropriate evidence documenting the transaction for the construction of a fence at the same football stadium for RD$851,158 in 2016.
The auditors say there was an overvaluation of up to 47% in the purchase of air conditioning equipment for the Fedofutbol office.
The complaint attributes an “important participation” to the internal auditor Georgina Rodríguez, who authorized checks using funds from the Ministry of Sports and Recreation.
“Mr. Osiris Guzmán Delgado increased the salary and remuneration of the collaborators to appropriate the surplus,” is stated in the complaint, based on interviews with employees who received less money than that which appeared in the payroll. This is the case of Anyela Félix Díaz, who was on the payroll with a salary of RD$50,000 when she received RD$22,000.
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Diario Libre
11 November 2019