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Arsenio Cañada, director of Sports of RTVE, and Francisco Javier Grima, director of the Teledeporte channel, have been accused of an alleged crime of bribery, according to a complaint filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office this week and to which EL MUNDO has accessed. Specifically, the complainants accuse the two journalists of having encouraged the "covert advertising" of the fashion brand El Ganso during the broadcasts of the matches of the World Cup in Qatar.

At the moment, the Prosecutor's Office has not yet decided whether it will accept the complaint. But, according to judicial sources, the mere complaint implies that initial proceedings and an investigation will be opened. Only then will Anti-Corruption decide whether to proceed with the process or not. This newspaper has contacted Arsenio Cañada who has not wanted to comment on the matter and has referred to the press department, which will not make any statement on the matter. Grima is currently on leave.

The issue of covert advertising is an old problem for RTVE. The public entity has received numerous complaints and sanctions from the National Commission of Competition Markets (CNMC). One of the latest was a fine of more than 128,000 euros for the broadcast of "covert commercial communications" during the broadcast of the Masterchef Celebrity program.

This case, however, goes further. In addition to the administrative complaint that has led to the opening of an investigation file by the CNMC and an informative file in RTVE to debug responsibilities, the complaint to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opens criminal proceedings by requesting that a possible crime of bribery by Cañada y Grima be investigated.

EL MUNDO has been able to know that the unions of RTVE are considering joining the complaint before the "irregularities" in the direction of Sports of RTVE that they have been denouncing for some time.

In addition to "obvious and blatant irregularities in the dissemination of advertising of El Ganso", a practice prohibited by the CNMC, the complaint states that "it is not ruled out" that both the director of Sports of RTVE and the director of Teledeporte "had profited directly or indirectly from the dissemination of such covert advertising".

Coincidentally, El Ganso is the sponsor of the men's national football team in its senior category and dressed the players during the sporting event. The agreement of the clothing firm with the Spanish team is for the next four years.

"A verbal contract"

The controversy over the clothing of El Ganso by the editors, presenters and collaborators of RTVE who covered the World Cup comes from long. Shortly before the championship began, the CNMC, at the request of UTECA, Atresmedia and Mediaset, prohibited RTVE from contracting advertising for the World Cup with advertisers other than FIFA sponsors, among which is not this Spanish firm.

However, the El Ganso logo was clearly visible in the dressing room of the network's presenters. "The entire human team of RTVE, as well as collaborators and commentators displaced to Qatar wore uniforms with clothing of the clothing brand El Ganso, including in said clothing the clearly identifiable logo, which implies a mode of covert advertising called product placement," the complaint states.

According to sources familiar with the case, there was never an official or written contract with El Gans or. But they do talk about a "verbal contract" so that it was the Madrid firm who dressed the RTVE team in the World Cup. This would have benefited from the visibility of the logo in programs that reached audience peaks of 12 million viewers.

The interim president of the Corporation, Elena Sánchez, said in Congress on February 14 that RTVE did not receive any economic benefit, She also affirmed that it was not "a sponsorship action", that "no contract was signed" and that it was not an advertising action.

Direct order by email

However, throughout the broadcast of the Qatar World Cup, the RTVE workers who covered the sporting event always wore El Ganso clothes, as was evident in all broadcasts. The jackets and shirts that appeared on the screen were embroidered with the RTVE logo on one side, and on the other the logo of the clothing firm.

As confirmed by the same sources, all RTVE workers in the World Cup received the order directly from Cañada y Grima, via email. "The orders to dress with the logo of El Ganso to all RTVE professionals displaced to Qatar came from those denounced," the complaint states. "Such covert advertising, if it had had to be paid by El Ganso, would have been a high cost, in addition to the fact that it violates free competition by harming the rest of its commercial competitors, using the public corporation to benefit the interests of a private company."

Torrespaña sources assure that there is a relationship "much more than professional" between the brand based in Boadilla del Monte and the two denounced, who took possession in February 2020, when Rosa María Mateo was the sole administrator of RTVE. They also confirm that it is not the first time that El Ganso appears in RTVE sports broadcasts: "He already provided clothes at the Tokyo Olympics or in the Champions League final in Paris."

"Thank you for trusting El Ganso"

It will be the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office who will investigate whether there is evidence of profit, direct or indirect. The letter points out the numerous interactions on social networks between the director of Sports of RTVE and the official profiles of the clothing brand. "Thanks to Arsenio Cañada and RTVE for trusting El Ganso once again," the company tweeted four days after the last Champions League final, where journalists also wore clothes from the brand.

On Instagram, the link between the director of RTVE and the textile firm is also evident. In several of Cañada's publications from Qatar, El Ganso's official account responds with enthusiastic comments and emoticons, with the consequent 'like' of Cañada.

RTVE issued its internal regulation on covert advertising in 2017, in accordance with the provisions of the General Advertising Law and the Unfair Competition Law. The text defines such commercial activity as "that form of advertising that involves the verbal or visual presentation, on a non-sporadic or occasional basis, of the goods, services, name, brand or activities of a manufacturer or an entrepreneur in programs in which such presentation has, intentionally on the part of the entity that presents the public television service, advertising purpose and is likely to mislead the public as to the nature of such presentation".

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