Osasuna President Luis Sabalza has confirmed that €1.5m did leave the club’s accounts last year but denied accusations of match-fixing.
The Basque outfit, who were relegated from La Liga last season, are being investigated for financial irregularities to the tune of €2.5m, while their 1-1 draw with Espanyol in the penultimate round of 2013-14 has reportedly come under the scrutinous eye of Spain’s Professional Football League (LFP).
It has since emerged that the allegations levelled at Osasuna are connected to former patron Miguel Archanco rather than Sabalza, the latter of whom was only anointed last December, and the new man in charge has vowed to cooperate with the relevant authorities.
“We have nothing to do with what’s been published [in the Press] because we weren’t on the club's board [at the time],” Sabalza clarified at a Press conference on Tuesday.
“We’ve promised transparency and we won’t cover anything up.
“There are outflows of around 1.5m, which aren’t well justified and have been made to specific people who have nothing to do with Osasuna and not even [the region of] Navarra.
“We held a meeting with [LFP President Javier] Tebas, and he told us that if we collaborated [with him in the investigation], he wouldn’t sanction the club, only the individuals who are responsible, that’s if anyone is.
“The club would never buy games. In any case, there wouldn’t be any benefits for Osasuna in that because the team went down [last season].
“What’s for certain is that some money has left [our coffers], but it must be proved that it was intended to buy games.
“The outflows happened in 2014 between late winter and early summer. I saw Espanyol-Osasuna on TV and I won’t say anything [about that].
“I don’t know if there’s been any prior complaints [from the LFP] because the LFP can act on its own without waiting for anyone to make any accusations.”
