The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) have cleared referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero of a conflict of interest, following revelations about his business activities outside of officiating. Munuera was temporarily suspended by the Referees Committee (CTA) and UEFA while the investigation was ongoing, but after less than 48 hours, it has been concluded.
Munuera was the centre of attention over the weekend, after he sent off Jude Bellingham for telling him to ‘f*** off’, and neglecting to grant any of their penalty appeals. He faced criticism from Bellingham and Carlo Ancelotti, and a vicious backlash from the Madrid-based press followed. Meanwhile on Tuesday Fede Valverde actually empathised with officials, before putting out a clarifying tweet an hour later that he did want to criticise them.
That same day, it emerged that Munuera was under investigation for his business Talentus Sports Speakers, for a potential conflict of interests. It was suggested that his business carried out consultancy work for sporting institutions including La Liga, the RFEF, Aston Villa and Manchester City. Munuera denied any such thing in a lengthy interview, calling for the harassment of him and his family to stop.
However the Compliance Department have now concluded that no such thing is the case, as per Diario AS. After an investigation, lawyer Nefer Ruiz has found no conflict of interest, after looking into the company registration, accounting and commercial activity, with the co-operation of Munuera.
“In light of the internal investigation carried out, it is concluded that, from a legal and internal regulatory perspective, there is no conflict of interest – neither real nor potential – derived from Mr. Munuera Montero’s business relationship with the RFEF.”
“Consequently, and taking into account the internal regulations on conflicts of interest and the good practices of the RFEF, there is no reason to justify the adoption of measures against Mr. Munuera Montero,” explained a statement from the RFEF.
Munuera will now be able to return to refereeing both domestically and internationally, with the results to be sent to UEFA and FIFA. The RFEF have sent round a circular asking the professional referees to carefully consider their business activities outside of refereeing to ensure that there is no conflict of interests, as well as those of their partners, so as to avoid potential reputational damage based on image.
They may also put in place extra measures to periodically check on the business activities of referees to guard against potential issues in the future. The ‘confusion’ in this case, appears to have stemmed from the fact that his business partner does have relations with sporting institutions, as part of a separate business, but one registered to the same headquarters.
