The ACB clubs, gathered this Thursday in Barcelona in an extraordinary assembly, have closed ranks around the figure of its president, Antonio Martín, who last April had been denounced anonymously by an alleged “vexatious treatment” to some employees and by the collection of bonus “not approved by any body of the ACB”. The complaint was also addressed to his number two, the CEVI's general director José Miguel Calleja.
Official Statement of the ACB General Assembly
Gathered this Thursday in Barcelona in Extraordinary General Assembly, ACB clubs express the following:
1. We deeply regret the dissemination of confidential information that, instead of contributing to transparency, seems to respond to an interested intention to damage the proper functioning and reputation of the ACB.
2. We reaffirm our commitment to the principles of legality, integrity and good governance. Therefore, and how could it be otherwise, we respect and defend the right to the presumption of innocence of all the people mentioned or affected by said filtration. ACB will continue working in defense of the rights of all parties involved.
3. The President and the Director General of the ACB have the unanimous support of the clubs and, consequently, we continue to support the exercise of their functions as long as the opposite is not demonstrated.
Internal and external research
Everything started last April, when all clubs received an anonymous complaint against Martín and Calleja. The ACB put the case in the hands of its good governance commission, formed by representatives of three clubs, Bilbao, Girona and Andorra. Gathered with Martín and Calleja, they defended their innocence and good management. Subsequently, an external audit to a law firm was commissioned. None of these two instances could confirm the veracity of the denounced aspects.
In the complaint received by the clubs, it was required that Antonio's “vexatious treatment” towards some workers focused especially, as revealed on Wednesday 'El Confidencial', in the Delegation of Catalonia, with special incidence in José Antonio Martín Bertrán, director of Arbitration of the League.
Internal Sources of the ACB believe that everything responds to a political motivation, since the presidency of Antonio Martín ends within five days, on July 15, and the clubs must then decide if they re -elected him as president or if they bet on a substitute to govern the entity for the next four years.
The web lighting a few days ago that the former player Jorge Garbajosa, former president of the Spanish Federation and current president of FIBA Europe, is seriously valuing the abandonment of his current position to present his candidacy to relieve Martín.
