Media-rights deals between Guatemala’s football association and Mexican media magnate Angel Gonzalez were agreed at prices that were below market value, sources from an audit committee appointed by football’s global governing body, Fifa, have told the Reuters news agency.
The committee, which is running the national association after its president and several of its top officials were arrested on charges related to bribery allegations, made the claim in a new audit that forms part of the US Department of Justice’s probe into wider football corruption.
The findings of the audit were presented to Primo Corvaro, Fifa's head of member associations, earlier this month in Guatemala, the report added.
The contracts were signed by the national association’s former president, Brayan Jiménez, who is awaiting extradition to the US on corruption charges. Jiménez's lawyer, Francisco Garcia, said that the association’s rights deals had been awarded without a tender process “for many years,” including before Jiménez became president.
The national association sold the domestic rights for all games by the national team on an exclusive basis to two channels operated by the Albavision media company for an average of up to $83,000 (€75,000) per year from 2014 to 2018, Reuters added.