The Seven Deadly Sins of Pedro Rocha

The Seven Deadly Sins of Pedro RochaOscar G. Barroso / EP

What could happen this week with RFEF? Every day is a new adventure, and it is not easy to predict the next chapters. Common sense dictates that one of these days the Federal Election Commission will accept and reject the appeal Miguel Galan against the census, confirming the process that ended Pedro Rocha as the only candidate for the presidency. Having rejected the appeal against his proclamation, one can also foresee that the same electoral commission will proceed to proclaim the Extremaduran president in the coming days. Although the opposite can happen, this is RFEF.

But in parallel, the Supreme Sports Council is preparing an appeal from its board of directors to remove both Rocha and members of his management company for allegedly committing very serious violations, which is studying TAD, which a priori will not happen, at least until Wednesday. And from there? Well, that remains to be seen, with hidden threat that FIFA will intervene in the RFEFwith government support.

Rocha, who plans to feel immune to all the obstacles he faces to become RFEF president, accumulates too many errors as he took the place of the first disqualified and then resigned Luis Rubiales. He resists silently while his work group declares: his absolute innocence (judicial, administrative and ethical) and his legitimacy as the new president of the RFEF. But he made (at least) seven serious mistakes that call into question a satisfactory outcome for his interests.

1. Don’t call quick elections.

The original sin of that dirt, that dirt. September 10, 2023 Rubiales gives up and resigns. Five days later, RFEF announces that “Pedro Rocha will lead the transition process at RFEF” and already refers to him as the president of the management company. The federation’s bylaws state that following the removal of the president, “a board of directors will be constituted as a management committee and hold an election to fill that position; whoever is elected will hold that office for a period equal to the time remaining to fill that office.” be performed by the person being replaced.”

It is true that the statute does not limit conscription in time, but from the wording it is clear that this is its main function. After attempting to call a general election for the assembly (which the bylaws do not allow as it was ultimately dictated by the TAD), It took Roche more than six months to call them.

along the way, making decisions in which he apparently overstepped his bounds.

Pedro Rocha, Luis Rubiales and Andreu Camps.

2. Pay (too much) attention to Victor Francos

In combination with the above, The government did nothing to ensure Rocha’s fidelity to his mission.. Former CSD president Victor Francos, after a failed public attempt to remove Rubiales, felt strong after he successfully resolved the crisis of the world champions who did not want to play the national team on September 20, 10 days after Rubiales’ resignation. team.

Francos de facto intervened in the RFEF. He convinced or forced, depending on who you ask, Rocha to postpone the elections until 2024 and make them universal rather than partial (some time later the TAD ruled that this could not be done), and also We undertake to cut off heads in the Federation. The dismissal of Secretary General Andreu Kamps without discussing the substance is by far the clearest abuse of power that TAD is investigating.

The most recent statement by the superintendent indicated that the government was responsible for many of the acts now being reported. Francos is gone, having been forced to resign at the end of December, but the damage has already been done. Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes Now he’s trying to clean up the mess he discovered when he took over CSD. And even if he doesn’t want it, the legacy also implies that the government will be jointly responsible for Francos’ decisions.

Pedro Rocha and Victor Francos.

3. Get Rubiales’ salary.

On December 21, the RFEF held its regular annual meeting, chaired by Rocha as the highest representative of the governing committee. At this conclave, Rocha proposed to the members of the assembly to inherit the salary of 675,671 euros per year that Rubiales received as president of the RFEF. And he did this, as El Mundo reports, contrary to the criteria of his own legal services, which considered this task to be contrary to the charter, which only states that the assembly has the right to approve the salary of the president. And Rocha was not (and at least for now) the president of the RFEF, only its steering committee..

“Since 2013, I have been working in the Federation of Extremadura (a month ago I was its president). I never got a dime“Rocha testified as a witness before the judge in the Super Bowl case (before the investigation began), and unless any court proves otherwise, he is correct. But the leader of Extremadura is tainted by the fact that in his capacity he ascribes to the interim leader a salary that, according to the charter, should not correspond to him, or at least it is very doubtful that it will.

4. Agreeing or not knowing too much

Luis Rubiales allegedly set up a network with his associates to collect bribes from the RFEF until Rocha was his vice president for economics, and he says he found nothing.. The same site received a tender (although it was never paid) when he was already the president of the management company, and he himself did not know about it. The Saudi Arabian Super Bowl contract under investigation was renewed with the approval of the board of directors he was on, but he didn’t know about it either. Tomás González Cueto pressured the government to organize the presidential election with his interests in mind, and although no one asked him about it, he certainly claims he never knew about it.

If he lied and actually found out about all this, it would be very serious indeed. And in some cases this will have criminal consequences. Let us take it for granted (which is a lot) that he found nothing. Does Rocha have the moral right to head the institution where all this happened, while he was first the vice president of economics and then the president of the management company, without him knowing anything? He does not dare to think that Rocha is “guilty of vigilando” for at least some of the events described.

5. Remove from office those under investigation in the Super Bowl case.

A day after the search in Las Rosas and other places in Spain, such as the home of Luis Rubiales, Rocha announced the termination of his contract with GC Legal, the office of González Cueto, and removed the two federation directors under investigation from their positions and responsibilities. . judge Jose Javier Jimenez and Pedro Gonzalez Segura.

The essence of the decision is hardly negotiable: if it could be done, then it should be done. As far as the form is concerned, whether he was entitled to do so or not is a matter for the TAD to decide. What is not ethically supported anywhere is that Rocha suspended two people being investigated in the Super Bowl, and Now that he is also under investigation by a judge, he feels perfectly legitimate to take over as president of the RFEF.. Although there are no legal obstacles in this sense. Rodríguez Uribes already said this on Friday in a statement to Efe: “It is inconceivable that a representative of Spanish football at the European Cup or the Olympic Games could be the person under investigation in a criminal case. We as a country cannot allow this to happen.“.

6. Not taking your application seriously before the judge.

Rocha went to testify before the Majadahonda magistrate 10 days ago as a witness. Smiling, confident and without the legal assistance of a lawyer. Some time later he left the court as an investigator. While he still doesn’t know, everything is said, what exactly he is accused of.

His surreal claim of ignorance of facts that he should have known as they were discussed and asserted in his presence before the federal authorities motivated his transition from witness to investigator. He also left such gems as that he believed that Rubiales appointed him as his successor because he was an “honest man” and that His academic qualification was “life”.

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7. Not having a Plan B for your elections.

In the midst of gathering endorsements, beautifully organized by the presidents of all the territories in favor of Rocha, an idea was put on the table. As Relevo reported, He was considering transferring 21 of his more than 100 votes to a second candidate., about what could happen in these weeks. If this had happened, the RFEF today would have a decent and simple way out of the mess it is in.

However, this idea was ultimately abandoned. If only because Rocha was convinced by his advisers that nothing could threaten his election as president. Neither the cataract of Galan’s complaints to TAD, nor the judicial investigation into the Super Bowl affair. He thought he was untouchable, but now reality has shown him that he is not.