Reports say Rubiales got off the plane with police before being asked questions at the airport.
Former head of Spanish soccer, Luis Rubiales, was arrested by police on Wednesday for suspected corruption at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) when he was president.
The police took the 46-year-old ex-RFEF President into custody at Madrid’s Barajas airport shortly after he flew in from the Dominican Republic, but he was let go soon after.
Sources close to the investigation said Rubiales left the plane with police and was questioned at the airport.
Rubiales’ arrest happened two weeks after police searched 11 places, including the RFEF’s office in Madrid and Rubiales’ house in Granada, as part of an investigation into suspected corruption and other crimes.
Legal sources said the March 20 searches were part of an “investigation linked to possible crimes related to corruption in business, dishonest administration, and money laundering.”
Spanish media reports said investigators were looking into RFEF agreements signed since 2018, including one to move the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
The Super Cup contracts are valued at 40 million euros a year ($43.3 million) with the agreement made by Kosmos, a company owned by former Barcelona and Spain player Gerard Pique.
Cadena Ser radio reported that police flew to the Dominican Republic and searched the place where Rubiales was staying, seizing a laptop and a phone following an order by the judge.
The police declined to comment on the report when asked by AFP.
It was reported that a day after the March 20 searches, the RFEF fired its legal director Pedro Gonzalez Segura, human resources head Jose Javier Jimenez, and ended its contract with GC Legal, the federation’s external legal advisor Tomas Gonzalez Cueto.
All three had been arrested by police during the searches.
Rubiales was forced to resign as RFEF president in September 2023 after kissing Women’s World Cup star Jenni Hermoso without her consent following Spain’s victory in the Sydney final in August 2023.
The incident sparked global outrage, with Rubiales set to be tried for the non-consensual kiss, which under Spanish law can be considered sexual assault.
AFP also reported that prosecutors in 2022 started investigating the Super Cup agreement after audio recordings between Rubiales and Pique were leaked where they talked about significant commissions.
But Rubiales has always defended the legality of moving the Super Cup to the oil-rich Gulf state, and in April 2022, in a short preview posted online of an interview with private Spanish television channel La Sexta recorded before his arrest, which will air late on Wednesday, he denied any wrongdoing.
Rubiales was quoted as saying, “The money in my bank accounts is the result of my work and my savings.”
