The fifth pillar, which was purchased by a company affiliated with AFA/Web
Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas, in the midst of the scandal surrounding the Sur Finanzas case, ordered the lifting of the tax secrecy of the company Malte SRL and the expansion of the investigation into the sale and purchase of a property in Pilar, Villa Rosa, which belonged to Carlos Tévez and would today be in the hands of people close to the AFA executives.
According to official information, the property was purchased by Tévez in July 2017 and sold to Malte SRL on June 28, 2023.
The company Malte SRL, one of the companies that succeeds the owners of the property, acts as a supplier to the Argentine Football Federation.
In fact, AFA Bulletin 6,089 reported that in 2022, Malte SRL was directly contracted to implement the VAR system, a work for which they received $500,000 from the organization chaired by Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia.
The judge has already asked ARCA for all tax data, both of the company and of those acting as its partners or authorities.
Toviggino’s frontmen?
Less than a year later, on May 30, 2024, the company transferred it to Real Central SRL, associated with Luciano Pantano and his mother Ana Conte. Pantano is a monotributista and his mother is retired.
Pantano and Conte were denounced just over a week ago as alleged frontmen for Chiqui Tapia and Pablo Toviggino.
As part of the investigation, Rafecas requested from ARCA all tax and tax information of Malte SRL and its possible partners or directors, including Mauro Javier Paz, former director of the AFA Women’s Football League, although the data is still subject to confirmation by official documents.
The case began with a complaint linking the home to alleged irregular movements of senior football managers, and the legal action aims to clarify whether there were maneuvers to conceal the true origin of the funds used in the operation.
In recent days, the Argentine Federal Police have raided various AFA headquarters in the Sur Finanzas case: there have been more than 30 raids on various clubs, including Racing, Independiente and San Lorenzo, in addition to the headquarters of Ezeiza and the Argentine Football Super League.
The procedures were carried out at various addresses related to possible commercial and financial transactions of Sur Finanzas with sports institutions, either through sponsorship agreements or possible administrative links, which are currently being investigated.
Verified points include AFA headquarters Viamonte, Ezeiza estate, Rácing Club, Club Atlético Independiente, San Lorenzo de Almagro, Argentinos Juniors, Platense, Barracas Central, Deportivo Armenio, Los Andes, Deportivo Morón, Excursionistas, Témperley, Victoriano Arenas, Sportivo Dock Sud, Estrella del Sur, Acassuso, Banfield, Brown de Adrogue and Defender of Glew.
The operations also included houses associated with administrative areas and properties associated with these institutions.
The owner of Sur Finance spoke
“Chiqui (Tapia) never asked me for anything,” Ariel Vallejo told La Nación in a brief statement. It is his first reaction since the scandal broke 40 days ago. So far it has only been expressed on social networks.
Ariel Vallejo is the owner of Sur Finanzas and is being investigated by the judiciary for his commercial ties to the AFA and its president Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia.
“I didn’t benefit from football, I used it as positioning,” Vallejo defended himself. The Ministry of Finance accuses him of alleged money laundering for transfers of $818,000 million through Sur Finanzas PSP, made by, among others, unreliable taxpayers, monotributists with low economic capacity.
Vallejo grew dizzyingly and Sur Finanzas became the main sponsor of the Professional League (in 2024), the Argentine national team and sponsored several first division and promotion teams. Many of them were attacked.
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