The National Court Prosecutor’s Office asserts that José María Timón Iglesias, who served as cabinet director to Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, “deliberately” did not tell the truth in his court testimony on Tuesday, according to national audience sources cited by this newspaper.
Earlier, before the president of the Central Instruction Court No. 1, Francisco de Jorge, Timón denied pressuring actress Jenni Hermoso and offered a public justification for kissing her on the mouth after the World Cup final in Sydney. The sources stress that the former federation official, who was required to speak truthfully, contradicted testimony offered by other witnesses, which appeared to be inconsistent with one another.
Rubiales Office
Separately, information from the federation’s compliance chief points to “enormous irregularities” tied to a meeting held in Rubiales’ office on August 23. It is alleged that press chief Patricia Pérez faced pressure to claim the kiss was consensual. The goal, it is claimed, was to have the federation’s internal procedure exonerate its former president, a result that reportedly occurred.
The integrity report cleared Rubiales without taking the player’s statement into account. It is alleged that the federation relied on public statements from the Spanish National Team forward to defend the version favored by Rubiales, a stance acknowledged by Pablo García Cuervo, the federation’s former head of Communications.
According to Efe, Javier Puyol Moreno, appearing before the judge in the federation’s internal Integrity Office investigation, indicated that pressure on Patricia Pérez may have existed. The National Court Prosecutor’s Office noted that some participants in the August 23 meeting interpreted the remarks as an avoidance or minimization of the truth.
I didn’t know anything
The third witness is the women’s team psychologist, Javier López Vallejo, who denies knowledge of the events. A formal investigation remains underway at the National Court into the federation’s former president, Luis Rubiales.
Witness testimony regarding the FC Arsenal football player will resume next Tuesday, with Laia Kodina and Rafael del Amo, the chairman of the National Women’s Football Committee, expected to appear.