Whistleblower Rui Pinto, who was arrested in Hungary, was delivered to his native Portugal and landed in Lisbon in the evening. On Friday, he will be presented to an investigating judge, who will first decide whether Pinto should remain in custody or be transferred to a house arrest.
On Wednesday, the Portuguese leaked by the Football Leaks in Hungary had been questioned by Belgian investigators on corruption, tax evasion and fraud in Belgian top football. In Portugal, the French authorities also want to talk to Pinto.
The investigations carried out by the authorities in Portugal are less about Football Leaks than the Infolecks posted on the FC Porto TV channel and on blogs. These Infolecks led to investigations against the record champion Benfica Lisbon, who is said to have bought referees and games. Because of the Infolecks Benfica reported against FC Porto.
SPIEGEL and the research network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) have been publishing research for more than two years, also based on documents from the Football Leaks disclosure platform. For reasons of protection of informants, SPIEGEL and EIC in principle do not express the identity of possible sources.