By Paul Nicholson
May 18 – Angel Villar Llona (pictured), Spain’s controversial FIFA vice-president and the man currently in charge at UEFA following the sanctioning of Michel Platini, is facing legal action at home from rival candidate for the Spainish federation presidency Miguel Angel Galan.
Galan has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Instruction of Majadahonda against Villar Llona alleging that he has deliberately delayed the electoral process and in doing so has violated a ministerial order that is enshrined in Spanish law.
Galan specifically calls for Villar Llona to be disqualified from public office and to be banned from standing for election – which under this rule has a disqualification period of nine to 15 years.
As evidence of Villar Llona’s manipulation Galan has filed 29 documents and asked that the court take evidence from Spanish sports minister Miguel Cardenal, La Liga president Javier Tebas, and current Spanish federation general secretary and presidential candidate Jorge Perez.
According to Spanish news site AS, Galan then plans to file a second complaint alleging embezzlement by Villar Llona.
Villar Llona has been a major opponent to some of the reform at FIFA and at the end of last year was sanctioned for failing to co-operate with the official investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
He was given a 25,000 Swiss franc fine. A statement by Ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert’s adjudicatory chamber said the Spaniard “failed to behave in accordance with the general rules of conduct applicable to football officials in the context of the investigations conducted by the then chairman of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee regarding the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bids.”
As UEFA’s most senior official behind Platini, he has been running the confederation as a temporary stand-in while Platini fought his FIFA suspension but has not declared whether he will stand for the presidency now that elections have been scheduled.
If he did he would likely have the support of FIFA president Gianni Infantino. With FIFA’s audit and complaince chief Doemnico Scala now out the way and FIFA having nominally dispensed with its independent integrity functions it can be safettly assumed Villar LLona would pass any integrity test despite his sanction.
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