Argentina’s tax agency said Friday it was looking into the transfers of about 30 football players as part of a crackdown on tax evasion and money laundering in the country’s top two divisions.
Ricardo Echegaray, head of the tax agency known by the Spanish-language acronym AFIP, said the body had also blacklisted 146 player agents from working legally in Argentina. He said 210 agents were registered with AFA, the governing body of Argentine football.
Echegaray did not name the players under suspicion, although two were confirmed earlier in the week: Jonathan Bottinelli of River Plate and Ignacio Piatti of San Lorenzo. AFA has banned both from playing until the transfers are clarified.
“One is either paying taxes, or one is evading them,” Echegaray said. “We have to work together for healthy football. The agency is only after one thing – that there is no tax evasion.”
The suspicious transfers are reported to involve some of Argentina’s most famous clubs, including Boca Juniors, River Plate, Racing, San Lorenzo and Independiente.
The announcement is the first sign that government rules published earlier this year may be starting to bite. The regulations require AFA and clubs in the top two divisions to report the financial details of transfers, salaries, bonuses and other contracts that have long escaped examination in Argentina.
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