Benfica issued a statement explaining Rui Costa's visit to DCIAP (Central Department of Investigations and Criminal Procedure) facilities on Tuesday morning.

In a short note with just two bullet points, the Red Club confirmed that the statements were made on behalf of Benfica in an “e-mail operation”, which involved “the attribution of an undeserved offer of advantage and the attribution of tax fraud.”

The emails case/operation, in which an alleged corruption scheme to control Portuguese football is being investigated, dates back to 2017 and 2018, a period during which it was revealed that correspondence was exchanged between elements of the Benfica structure and third parties on the Porto channel.

In parallel with this process, the Benfica League requested compensation in the amount of 17.7 million euros for damages caused to the club by the disclosure of private correspondence and the alleged deletion of content. In the first court decision, in June 2019, FC Porto and its communications director, Francisco J. Márquez, were ordered to pay €2 million, a decision reviewed by Rixao, resulting in the penalty being halved. Recently, the Supreme Court canceled this compensation, and issued a decision… The new quantification of value.

Complete extraction:

“Following the news published in the last few hours and the subsequent requests that reached the club from the media, Sport Lisbon Benfica clarifies the following:

1) President Rui Costa visited DCIAP headquarters this morning and made statements on behalf of Benfica in what is called “Operation Email”.

2) Make sure that there is an accusation of providing an undue advantage and accusations of tax evasion.”