Dalo Bucaram, the leader of the Fuerza Ecuador political movement, has initiated legal action against Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) president Carlos Villacís over the governing body’s rights deal with pan-regional pay-television broadcaster GolTV.
Bucaram has accused Villacís of a lack of transparency over the award of the rights, which he said were “hand-delivered” to GolTV, according to news website El Universo.
Last June, the FEF unveiled a 10-year deal with GolTV, granting the company rights to the Primera Categoría Serie A and Serie B divisions for 10 years, from 2018 to 2027. At the time, Villacís said the deal would be worth more than $276m (€246m).
Bucaram’s legal action will block the governing body from receiving money from GolTV, the report said.
He claims that GolTV’s offer was submitted one day after the deadline for bids, with other companies having already tabled offers. He has also raised questions about the involvement of at least one executive in the deal.
The FEF has defended the deal, but said that certain details have remained undisclosed due to the confidentiality agreement.
According to the El Comercio news website, Omar Quintana, the former president of Ecuadorian club Emelec, has written to Villacís to urge him to step down, accusing the FEF president of a series of shortcomings, including a lack of transparency over the GolTV deal and failing to collect debts promptly from previous rights deals.