In 2012, the former defender of the France team, sick, had received a liver transplant from his cousin. A version challenged by a report from the Spanish Institute of Toxicology, but deemed “incomplete” by the defense.
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In the case of the liver transplant of the former tricolor international Eric Abidal, saved from a tumor in 2012, it is the turn of Sandro Rosell, former president of the Catalan club, to explain himself by the way of his lawyer, Tuesday, April 5.
The former Blaugrana president is under investigation for irregularities around the transplant and a suspicion of illegal organ purchase when he officiated as president of Barca (2010-2014). If no relationship is established between Abidal and his presumed cousin at the end of these examinations, this would accredit the hypothesis of an illegal organ purchase, which Sandro Rosell has always defended.
The doubts about a possible recourse to organ trafficking are based on telephone calls between Rosell and an unknown interlocutor, registered in the repertoire of the ex-president under the name of “Juanjo” according to the press, intercepted by the police in April 2017. Transmitted to justice, they gave rise to the opening of an investigation for presumption of organ trafficking.
On Monday, the Spanish media El Confidencial claimed that the Spanish Institute of Toxicology “could not prove that former FC Barcelona player Eric Abidal and his supposed cousin, who donated part of his liver to him in 2012, Gérard Armand, are related“.
Sandro Rosell’s lawyer rejected the accusation and affirms that the report did not comment on a possible relationship between Eric Abidal and his donor Gérard Armand. “The examinations carried out for this purpose are incomplete, and the court could require new ones, as suggested by the National Institute of Toxicology itself“, added the firm in a press release.