Deceived by Agapito

• Agapito. Premiums in envelopes and in advance

Neither cash bonuses nor transfers to buy the game. The former Zaragoza players denied to the judge having bought the Levante-Zaragoza match of the 2010/11 season with club money or having received cash prizes for having achieved permanence, as stated by their former president, Agapito Iglesias , to justify 1 , 73 million euros that left the club's accounts in the last week of competition.

Who else explained to the court was Gabi , at that time captain of the team. He signed a receipt reflecting that he had been paid in cash 735,000 euros in premiums for the permanence for the squad and, along with eight other teammates, the coach and the sports director, took out 50,000 and 35,000 euros the day before the game , amounts previously transferred by Zaragoza.

To questions of the prosecutor, the midfielder dismantled all the argument of Agapito Iglesias: neither envelopes, nor bonuses for the permanence nor premiums for being a special player . In the first place, he acknowledged having negotiated with the then president some "incentives" in "November or December" for the bad situation of the team. "It is a verbal agreement, and they are not consolidated as bonuses until the goal is achieved," he explained. The amounts are those referred by Iglesias: 1,000 euros per tie, 2,000 per victory and 3,000 if two in a row were achieved. The payment mechanic was by bank transfer the week after the points were achieved . "They appeared as payments in our accounts," said the player, who confirmed as the rest of his teammates that the club paid them "a small payroll every month" but that the bulk of their contracts -the card they receive in December and June- They didn't charge it. "At that time Zaragoza owed me money, a lot of money," he said.

Gabi denied receiving any other cousins ​​that season and did not hesitate to acknowledge before the judge that he never received envelopes from the club. Why then signed a receipt of 735,000 euros in cash for premiums, in their own name and their peers? Because, he summed up, Zaragoza tricked him .

"I sign it on June 1 despite having a date of May 23. I had already signed for Atlético and was doing my farewell press conference. Minutes before, Porquera-counselor- presents the document, I read it above and I think I am signing the effective acknowledgment that what we had received weekly by transfer , never in cash, were premiums , "he said. "They interpret it that way, and it seems normal to me to sign it as a guarantee that my classmates will be able to deduct those amounts as premiums and not as income on account of their salary, because we had achieved the goal," he added. The fear was that, before the contest, Zaragoza justified these payments as part of the debts to the players. In addition the captain signs another I received in his name "for the amount he had received weekly." "I can't sign for others because I don't know the games that each one played," he added.

"Are you telling me that Zaragoza presents you with that document, that it deceives you and that it intends to justify the cash outflow of your box 765,000 euros?" The prosecutor asked. "That's right," the soccer player responded sharply, who acknowledged the error of signing it because he put "in cash" , but reiterated that it was neither a special permanence bonus nor was paid in cash because the players were not trusted, as Iglesias said. "It's a lie. I never meant it was in cash. He puts it, and that was the mistake. But no Zaragoza player has received it in cash," he said.

As for the two transfers worth 85,000 euros that he took out a window one day before the game in Valencia, he again pointed to the then president and top shareholder. " It is a lie that it was a special bonus to certain players . It makes no sense. The youngest, two foreigners who had just arrived and players who had no weight were paid. Besides, some had to give them to us in cash because no we trust and others do them by transfer? It makes no sense, "he said.

The money took it out because Agapito asked for it. "He tells me that he has made me an income, that he needs to pay tickets and trips, that he could not have more money in the short term ... I handed it to him on May 20, the day before the game. So he had than being in Spain, "Gabi replied before Agapito's arguments that he was out of the country those days.

On the payrolls made in September to justify all payments, Gabi, and Atlético player, never received them.

Repeated mechanics

With two other two captains, Jorge López and Leonardo Ponzio , the procedure was similar. Both denied having received cash from the club, yes match-to-match bonuses, and the two received a call from Agapito Iglesias to tell him they had received amounts for transfers that were to be returned. In both cases, he talks about the fans' journey and the difficulties in financing it. They take out the cash on two different days and, in the case of Jorge López, he gives it to the president and in that of the Argentine "to a person of his confidence in front of the La Romareda stadium." None ask for explanations or ask questions.

Ander Herrera was another player who received the income and the president's call, but the argument he gave was different. "He tells me that I have a wrong transfer, that I have to return it and that the money is ready for me to pick it up. The mandamás tells me and I don't ask any more," confirms the PSG player, who hands it over "by hand to president in the Sports City of Zaragoza the day after the call and the same day as the money collection ".

He denied that they were cousins ​​because he resigned by contract to them in February of that year, when he agreed to transfer to Athletic, or that they were due to his special weight in the team "because he was the youngest in the team, who neither punctures nor cuts". Like his teammates, he denied receiving cash payments throughout his career.

Because, as with other defendants, Ander Herrera only goes to the bank once, although there are two cash withdrawals in two days: May 19 and 20. "I go only once to collect the money. I signed documents from time to time and did not go to the bank . I signed that on the same day," he said. "I should have returned it by transfer, it helped me learn for life. It was my mistake and that's why I'm here," he acknowledged.

Javier Aguirre signed blank

The then coach of Zaragoza is also Agapito who communicates the payment of 85,000 euros in his account. "He told me that I will receive money for a premium, I replied that I have no right, that they are in my contract, and that I would return it." But when he goes to the bank, he does not even establish the form of return. "I don't get it in cash at all. The boy, just seeing me, tells me that they talked to Zaragoza, which is solved and gives me a sealed envelope that I deliver to the president the weeks after the game," said the Mexican.

As Ander Herrera justified his signature on the two proofs of window extraction "because I signed blank documents to avoid going to the bank . It was an overconfidence and they abused it."

They launched something similar, Da Silva and Braulio . They only went to the bank once - despite having two different day signatures - they gave them an envelope and handed it over to Zaragoza employees that they could not identify.

The only ones who admit that the income remained as part of what the club owed them were the sports director Antonio Prieto , Toni Doblas and the Uruguayan Diogo . The first invests it in exercising the option of buying a home, the Andalusian in paying payments with the Treasury and Social Security of its hospitality businesses and the third only takes out 35,000 euros in cash and argues that they were to cover the holiday expenses what was going to happen in his country and lend money to a friend.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• sports
• Lift UD
• Real Zaragoza

LaLiga Santander Premiums in envelopes and in advance

Football Statistics that increase suspicion of size of Levante-Zaragoza

AmañosLevante-Zaragoza: In search of the million euros