Sunday, October 3, was a turning point, a before and after for Mundo Boca. And not only because of the hasty sending off of defender Marco Rojo, the mistakes made by goalkeeper Agustín Rossi -with direct responsibility for the rival's two goals-, the and the changes decided by the coach, Sebastián Battaglia, or the poor attitude, in general, that the team showed, undignified for a club that achieved its greatness using virtues such as grit and Courage, its registered trademark, both in Argentina and in the world.
It was that Sunday, at the Monumental, the last time that Boca Juniors wore Garbarino as a sponsor on the back of their shirt. A sponsorship that lasted exactly 366 days from its signing, on October 2, 2020. Already in the next game -Boca's reunion with the xeneize people at La Bombonera, on Saturday the 9th, a 4-2 win against Lanús-, the blue and gold badge had only the numbers and names of its players on the back.
On Thursday the 7th, the last business day before that game, Boca sent a legal document to Banco Macro. The document ordered the seizure of the accounts in the name of Garbarino at the entity . He cited a ruling from Commercial Court 6, Secretariat 11. "Intimation of payment", it reads, dated August 31, 2021. "In accordance with the provisions of article 531 of the Procedural Code, release an order requiring the debtor to pay the claimed capital of $24,999,999 ,58, plus the sum of $12,500,000, estimated as interest and costs, and the Justice Officer must proceed to seize sufficient assets", it adds.
Boca had initiated a lawsuit against Garbarino two months ago for non-payment. But, at that time, the Justice denied the request because he had not complied with the manner in which he should Submit the documentation proving the rejection, due to lack of funds, of the four electronic checks, for a total of $25 million, that the club was to collect from its sponsor in May . Judge Marta Cirulli rejected the opening of the file on the same morning (August 17) in which the club fired its coach, Miguel Ángel Russo. Weeks later, Boca corrected the legal error -he had to obtain written records from the banks that issued the checks- and went for revenge.
Garbarino is the largest retailer of electronic products and household appliances in the country. He signed his contract with Boca four months after Carlos Rosales, head of the Prof insurance group, bought the company. It would be the first of several sponsorship investments -River, San Lorenzo, the Argentine Football Association (AFA)- with which Rosales intended to reinvigorate the brand. He was not a man outside the world of soccer: even then, he was better known for his role as protreasurer of San Lorenzo de Almagro than for his business activities.
The reality was very different from what Rosales had outlined in his project. Garbarino, today, is plunged into a practically terminal crisis. Rosales failed in his attempt to achieve a write-off of the commercial debt of the company -more than $7 billion- and, also, in the incorporation of a strategic partner, which would inject the necessary working capital to revive the chain.
The businessman, who earlier this year also bought Radio Continental, had arrived with a promise of investment of $2 billion. He not only didn't get them. He stopped paying salaries in April. Also, services of all kinds. Even the rents of its premises, which led the owners of the properties -among them, Cencosud- to initiate multiple lawsuits, both for collection and bankruptcy and eviction requests. Its 3,800 employees continually take to the streets to claim for their salaries, which accumulate months in arrears, which are being canceled very partially and selectively. Its more than 200 stores are closed, practically abandoned. The company was unable to continue invoicing due to a lack of products and, also, a lack of system, due to a debt in concept of licenses with its software provider.
To date, it registers 3,700 rejected checks, for $5,507.76 million, according to the Debtors Central of the Central Bank. After the auction of 51% of its shares in Compumundo, its computer chain, failed, this company began to send dismissal telegrams. The most recent setback was this week: the Superintendence of Health Insurance (SSN) prohibited Prof, the Rosales insurer, from issuing new policies for having exceeded the technical limits of patrimonial risk. Radio Continental was also in conflict.
The Court notified Garbarino of the order to pay Boca at the end of September. Given the lack of response from its debtor, the club asked the judge for an embargo, up to covering the $37.5 million claimed -including debt, costs and interest-, in the accounts that the company has at Banco Macro . Thus, too, terminated the sponsorship contract, which the club had respected despite the payment owed. The brand even wore the shirt that Adidas made for the current season, released days after the club began the trial.
On September 30, 48 hours before his visit to Núñez for the Superclásico, Boca filed the document with the embargo against Macro. A week later, in his temple, against Lanús, the Garbarino+ brand was no longer on the xeneize shirt. Due to performance and attitude, the match was seen as a new awakening for Battaglia's team, renewed by the freshness of its youth players. Although with slips, of course.
A metaphor for what happened in the courts. Although Boca's trial prospered, and the Justice decided the payment order in his favor, the embargo, still, could not be executed.
"Buenos Aires, October 7, 2021", heads the note, on the letterhead of Banco Macro. "To the Judge in charge of Commercial Court 6, Secretary 11", the letter is addressed, which bears the signature of one of the entity's lawyers. The professional responds that, based on communications from the Central Bank and agreed upon by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, "the documents that provide for precautionary measures or surveys must be signed by a judicial authority."
"In the case at hand the communication is only signed by a lawyer, a power not included in article 400 of the National Civil and Commercial Procedure Code," he warns. The letter ends by saying that it is "awaiting the correct communication, in order to proceed accordingly".
This game still has minutes to play.
