Α Spanish judge is investigating the “Cotonou passports” case

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

According to a report by “Mundo Deportivo“, a judge from Madrid is investigating the possible falsification of the papers from Andy Panko and Marcus Slaughter who played in Liga Endesa in the previous season. Slaughter was a player of Real Madrid and Panko belonged to Fuenlabrada.

The judge sent letters rogatory to Turkey and France, since now Slaughter plays for Darussafaka Dogus and Panko is in Nancy. The reason? To raise questions about the players’ passports, which the judge suspects that they are false, sharing the same number. Spanish newspaper “El Mundo Deportivo” has revealed the story last May.

The so called “express passports”, or “Cotonou” is a common practice in Liga Endesa among Americans, since they allow the player to not occupy the extra space of a foreign player his team’s roster. When it comes to the cases of Marcus Slaughter and Andy Panko, investigation has shown that the passports, from the African country of Equatorial Guinea , carry the same number (AA001616). Panko has not played a game after this was revealed using the Guinean nationality, but Slaughter did.

The judge from Madrid has decided to interrogate both Slaughter and Panko for his investigation, after noticing that there might be irregularities in their papers. If the players are convicted the risk a sentence of between six months and two years in prison. Also, there will be consequences for their clubs as well.

 

 

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