Barcelona officially charged for alleged “sporting corruption” including payment to refs
Barcelona have been charged with corruption after being accused of paying a refereeing organization which the club describes as an ‘external technical advisor’.
Barcelona are accused of corruption over payments made by the club to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the Spanish Referees Committee.
It was discovered last month that the Catalans paid Negreira and a company he owns a total of €8.4m (£7.4m) between 2001 and 2018. A court in Barcelona was told on Friday that the La Liga club had accused former officials and Negreira of “corruption”, “embezzlement” and “falsified business records”.
The lawsuits were bought against the club, as well as former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell. The prosecutor said: “FC Barcelona has obtained and respected a strictly confidential oral agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira to carry out, in his capacity as Vice President of the Technical Arbitration Committee (CTA) and for money, actions related to FC Barcelona decisions of the referees benefit.”
It comes just days after Joan Laporta, the current president of the Nou-Camp, denied that Barcelona have ever paid referees. He told reporters: “We have a press conference where we’re going to talk about this issue. Barcelona have never bought referees and Barcelona never intended to buy referees – absolutely never.”
“The urgency of the facts goes against those who are trying to change history. We are fine again, nothing is accidental. There is a campaign to harm Barcelona’s interests. It’s a campaign aimed at controlling the club . La Liga doesn’t accept that.” Barcelona didn’t sign the contract with CVC.”
LaLiga boss Javier Tebas said last month Laporta should step down if he could not explain the payments, which were first announced by radio station Ser Catalunya. The tax authorities conducted an investigation into Negreira’s company Dasnil 95.
Barcelona have accepted they had paid what was described as an ‘external technical consultant’ who prepared reports ‘with the aim of supplementing the information needed by the coaching staff’.
The Catalans currently lead LaLiga, enjoying an eight-point lead over rivals and holders Real Madrid. This comes as a result of strong summer recruitment, which also saw the club come under criticism for their publicly revealed debt.
Barcelona and Tebas have also clashed recently, with the club accusing him of failing to keep Lionel Messi, who joined PSG on a free contract when his contract expired. LaLiga’s salary laws meant they could not meet the salary limit imposed.