The judge reiterates that Spanish Taekwondo leaders had obtained money from CSD © EFE

On 16 January, Judge Ana Avendaño Muñoz of the Court of First Instance No. 7 in Alicante issued issued an order in which she reiterated that the president and four other senior leaders of the Royal Spanish Taekwondo Federation would have "acted by common agreement in order to obtain money from the Supreme Sports Council (CSD)", reports THE OBJECTIVE reports.

On the other hand, the judge rejected the request of the former president of the Taekwondo Federation of the Valencian Community, Victoriano Pizarro Barceló, to separate the prosecution from his case, considering that "the conduct is carried out by this group of people who have acted together in agreement for many years with the aim of obtaining public funds from the CSD". 

In this case, the court refers to "various practices involving the alteration and manipulation of documents, invoices, the preparation of documents, the alteration of actions and data in order to obtain money from the CSD, including the alteration of accounts". 

The judge also points out that "the Prosecution Ministry also emphasises the link between the crimes, which are related and share the same evidence, making it necessary not to separate the prosecution from the case." 

In 2021, the Prosecution Ministry requested sentences of 10 years and six months for Jesús Castellanos Pueblas, president of the Spanish Taekwondo Federation (RFET), Miguel Pérez Otín, the former manager, and José María Pujadas, the secretary general. 

They also ask for four years' imprisonment for Alicia Sancho Carbonell, manager since 2015, and one year and nine months' imprisonment for Victorino Pizarro Barceló, Valencian Community Taekwondo Federation president between 2010 and 2018 and member of the board of the RFET. 

On the other hand, Jesús Castellanos, Miguel Pérez Otín and José María Pujadas must pay  664,727 euros to the Superior Sports Council and 387,817 euros to the RFET. However, as the federation is still run by the accused, they have waived this compensation.

The accusation also demands that the manager, Alicia Sancho, pay 75,081 euros to the RFET and that Victorino Pizarro pay 9,015 euros to the Valencian Federation. Jesus Castellanos has already detained several years ago. In December 2015, his opponent Eugenio Granjo filed a complaint with the Economic and Unit of Economic and Fiscal Delinquency (UDEF), which led to the initial arrest and subsequent release of the now re-elected RFET president.