The Prosecutor's Office denounces the former president of the Alcobendas Club for falsifying an official document

The complaint states that the former president, "in collusion with the other three defendants", agreed to the falsification of Gavin Van den Berg's passport

   MADRID, 9 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Madrid Provincial Prosecutor's Office filed a complaint this Tuesday against the former president of the Alcobendas Rugby Club, two former club technicians and a former player for a crime of falsehood in an official document, according to a note issued by the body, by allegedly altering the passport of the South African Gavin Van den Berg, which is why the Spanish team was sanctioned and deprived of playing the 2023 World Cup.

He attributes to the four people denounced their alleged participation in events that allegedly resulted in the falsification of the passport of a South African player so that he would obtain the status of a player in training, which, in turn, enabled him to play with the Spanish team. of rugby.

The complaint states that the president of the Alcobendas Rugby Club, "in collusion with the other three defendants", agreed to falsify the passport "or copies thereof" of a South African player who was a member of his club".

"To this end, the first and second coaches of the team requested and agreed with the denounced player the manipulation of the passport for the preparation of some copies where the exit stamps from Spain and entry from the Republic of South Africa were altered on days 7 and July 8, 2019, which the player did following the instructions of the previous ones," said the Madrid Community Prosecutor's Office.

The body describes this "mendacious" alteration of the South African player's passport as "mendacious" and points out that it was "necessary for those denounced", since the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER) demanded that the president of the Alcobendas Rugby Club send all the scanned pages of the player's passport. "Initially, and at first sight of the true passport, the player did not meet the requirements to be eligible, since he exceeded the days that the foreign player could reside outside of Spain," the complaint adds.

For this reason, the Prosecutor's Office reports that the former president of the club alleged, "as stated in the correspondence maintained by the defendant with the FER", that the player had lost his passport. In addition, after the FER insisted that without all the sheets he would not be able to participate in the selection process, "surprisingly it stated that the player had recovered his passport, sending scanned all the sheets of the already manipulated identification document, after agreeing with the rest of the defendants.

The president of the Alcobendas Rugby Club himself presented the falsified documentation to the FER in November 2021 by email. Next, the FER sent said documentation to the International Rugby Federation (World Rugby) to request the status of a training player by the FER Eligibility Commission, "and thereby prove that the player apparently would have remained alone outside of Spanish soil 62 days within the three years computable according to the adjustable regulations to obtain the status of the national team player".

World Rugby "initially" considered the documentation presented by the FER as valid and, therefore, from that moment the South African player held the status of a player in training "and has an 'F' in the minutes of the matches in the that he was lined up by the club in the national competitions organized by the FER, and in this way he was also eligible to represent Spain with one of the national teams".

However, on March 7, 2022, the FER Eligibility Commission received a request from World Rugby, following a complaint made by the Federation of another country. Said complaint was "correct", since the South African player did not recognize the exit stamps from Spain and entry into the Republic of South Africa on July 7 and 8, 2019, which appeared in the scanned copies sent to the International Federation.

"This recognition revealed a period of more than 62 days of stay outside the national territory by the player, in clear discrepancy with what is reflected in the passport sheets sent to World Rugby," the complaint adds.

Finally, the Prosecutor's Office recalls that as a result of the falsification of the document, the Judicial Committee of the International Federation carried out an investigation that concluded with the player's breach of international regulations and the FER, which culminated in the exclusion of the Spanish team. of his participation in the 2023 World Championship and the imposition on the FER of a fine of more than 29,000 euros and the reactivation of a previous fine amounting to almost 60,000 euros.

The complaint includes all the documentation sent by the FER, which includes a copy of a statement, dated July 5, 2021, in which the South African player reported the loss of his passport a few days before "in circumstances that he ignores", and a document signed by the team's coaches in which they assumed responsibility for the forgery, exonerating the club's president.

"However, said falsification directly and mainly benefited the president of the Alcobendas Club, who was aware of these facts accepting the benefit that it would bring them, without being able to carry out the same without his collaboration as he had full control over the fact", concludes the statement. prosecution.