The Spanish audiovisual group Mediapro this Thursday denied having incurred “in any additional negligent conduct”, after the out-of-court settlement reached with the United States Department of Justice for the alleged payment of millionaire bribes by three employees of Imagine Media Audiovisual to obtain the television rights of the qualifying phases of the World football.
This agreement, recalls the company, dates “from more than two years ago”, specifically in July 2018, when Imagina agreed with the United States justice to pay a fine of about 20 million euros, recognizing its responsibility in irregular payments to FIFA officials to obtain the television rights of the qualifying phase in the Central American and Caribbean regions (CONCACAF) for the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Soccer Championships.
Mediapro gave details of that agreement this week through a statement published on its website that was picked up by various media and today it specified that said statement did not shed any new information on the case.
“To complete the information included in the press release of November 14, 2020, Imagina Media Audiovisual wishes to clarify that all the actions and events described in said note were previously communicated by the company more than two years ago, in July 2018, when the non-prosecution agreement was reached with the United States Department of Justice, “he said today in a new press release.
In this sense, Mediapro points out that the statement issued this week “does not present new allegations nor does it imply the admission of new actions beyond those already included in the July 2018 non-prosecution agreement” and that the United States Department of Justice “It has not stated – and the company does not acknowledge – that the company has engaged in any further negligent conduct.”
“Therefore, any claim that the company paid a fine to stop a new investigation is completely false,” concludes Mediapro.