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The recent FIFA bribery scandal is serving to revive a corruption lawsuit against Manuel Burga, Congressman Daniel Abuggatás declared Monday.
Manuel Burga is the former president of the Peruvian Football Federation and for some is one of the most hated people in the country, being blamed for the poor performance for the last 13 years of both the national team and local clubs.
A lawsuit undertaken by Abugattás in December 2014 targets 32 Peruvian officials over the embezzlement of federation funds through a construction company named Torre Roja. Just five federation officials are not accused of participating in the fraud.
Abugattás says that “this situation in the Peruvian case will mean a revolution in soccer. One old generation will be gone and we expect a new generation that will not be affected by corruption."
However, for the sports investigative journalist, Juan Carlos Ortecho, Peru lacks institutions capable of controlling and determining how widespread corruption is in football.
Ortecho is the journalist who found the original documents used in the lawsuit and published them in the magazine Poder last November.
He adds that "we are at an initial state when it comes to investigating football properly. I believe we can follow the road of the Prosecutor of the U.S. State Department who has established a pattern of criminal conduct inside the organization of international football"
The huge interest in the FIFA corruption scandal was followed by journalist inquiries into whether Burga is one of the officials who received bribes to favor private companies.
With football being the most popular pastime in the country, news about scandals involving Burga and FIFA are likely to keep corruption in the public eye.
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