‘Impossible to Slap Sporting Sanctions on Barcelona’, Says La Liga President Javier Tebas

“Sporting sanctions are excluded, the statute of limitations would have expired,” said Tebas in a statement.

The Catalonian giants have been accused of bribing Negreira during club president Josep Bartomeu’s tenure between 2016 and 2018.

Negreira and his son claimed the payment was made solely as a result of consulting work and had no intention of committing any wrongdoing, as they denied the allegations in testimony before prosecutors.

It is reported that the money transfer was to Negreira’s company called DASNIL 95 and according to the 77-year-old the compensation was in exchange for advice on how players should treat referees and what they can and cannot do due to which officials was for a specific match responsible.

However, Negreira failed to submit the necessary documents to prove his statement.

The football club also rejected the allegation in an official statement.

“FC Barcelona has in the past used the services of an external technical consultant who provided technical reports in video format on lower-category players in Spain for the club’s technical secretariat,” the club said.

It is claimed that Club Negreira paid a sum of €532,728.02 ($571,000) in 2016, €541,752 ($580,000) in 2017 and finally €318,200 ($341,000) in 2018.

“Another thing is a criminal case or a corruption offense between private individuals. We have to wait for the prosecutor. If there is a complaint, we have to show up,” he continued.

However, the La Liga boss didn’t rule out the possibility of further proceedings as Barcelona’s judicial system launched an investigation into the allegations.