LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvian police arrested the president of the country’s soccer federation on Thursday as part of an investigation into allegations that he abused his position to extort local clubs into giving up their television rights.

Agustín Lozano is the second Peruvian soccer boss arrested since 2018 when his predecessor was investigated for his alleged role in two murders of which he was later acquitted.

Lozano was escorted in handcuffs to a police vehicle outside his home in the capital, Lima, while several journalists waited. He promised to clear up any misunderstandings and asked that the public reserve judgment.

Six other people related to the alleged conspiracy were also arrested.

Prosecutors, in a 140-page court filing seeking Lozano’s arrest, said the soccer coach and others tried to snatch lucrative broadcast rights from Peru’s first division soccer teams. Clubs that did not relinquish control were threatened with being relegated from the top category of Peruvian soccer clubs, according to the document obtained by The Associated Press.

Lozano is also suspected of illegally spending $1.8 million of federation funds to transport 142 people not associated with the soccer organization to Doha in 2022 for a playoff match between Peru and Australia to see which team qualified for the Soccer World Cup. World Cup in Qatar that year, according to the court file.

A prosecutor overseeing the case told local radio that Lozano had been under investigation for more than a year. Although he has not been criminally charged, authorities ordered his arrest because they considered he was a flight risk and could obstruct their investigation.

Lozano has had run-ins with the law before. In 2023, prosecutors sought his arrest as part of an investigation into embezzlement from his time as mayor of the northern city of Chongoyape.

Under Lozano’s leadership, the Peruvian soccer team is in second-to-last place among South American men’s teams seeking to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

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