“The appeal court of Hungary rejected the appeal of the Hungarian MP for imprisonment and kept Rui Pinto under house arrest,” said the source, adding that Pinto continues to await the extradition process, to which he has already opposed.

Pinto has been under house arrest in Budapest since 18 January, after being detained two days before, following a European arrest warrant issued by the Portuguese authorities, for “attempted extortion, illegitimate access and theft of data frm some institutions, including the state itself.”

The director of Portugal’s National Unit to Combat Cybercrime and Technological Crime, Carlos Cabreiro, said it was “early” to associate the suspect to crimes committed against some sports institutions, such as Benfica, FC Porto, Sporting or the Doyen group.

In a later statement, Pinto’s lawyers said that their client “has become a major European whistleblower with the so-called ‘Football Leaks’,” adding that “many revelations made under this information originated the publishing, for several years, of news that led to many investigations in France and other European countries.”