Barça president Joan Laporta is now also under investigation by a court in Barcelona for his alleged involvement in payments to referees, in what is known as the ‘Negreira’ case.
The investigation is related to the previous stint of Laporta in charge of the Catalan club, from 2003 to 2010. Former Barça presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as the club itself as an institution, are also being investigated in the case.
Barcelona, the 27-time Spanish champions, have been fighting off the accusations for months and deny any wrongdoing.
In a statement back in February the club said it had paid an external consultant who supplied them with ‘technical reports related to professional refereeing’, which it said was a common practice among professional football clubs.
In Spain, being placed under investigation does not necessarily lead to indictment and no formal charges can be brought until the first phase of the investigation is completed.
However, Laporta is facing possible charges of bribery in sports corruption, unlawful administration and falsification of documents. ALSO READ: Guardia Civil search RFEF’s HQ as part of probe into ‘referee payments’ by Barça.
The judge will also investigate all Barça board members during Laporta’s mandate and anyone in the club’s organisation who may have been involved in the decision-making process of sending payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of the Referees Technical Committee in Spanish football.
The Catalan giants paid various companies belonging to Negreira sums of over €7 million between 2001 and 2018. The payments came to light in an investigation when Spain’s tax authorities looked into payments between 2016 and 2018 that were unaccounted for.
Back in April, Laporta said the news about the payments was released ‘to try to destabilise the team’s good run’.
He also said the club would be ‘taking legal actions against those who are trying to tarnish the club’s image with possible insinuations against its good reputation that could be caused by the release of such information.’ ALSO READ: Barça threaten legal action against ‘insinuations’ after paying for referee reports.
Negreira himself told an investigation by Spain’s tax agency that the payments to him were for ‘technical guidance’ aimed at ensuring that ‘refereeing decisions weren’t going to go against them, that is to say, that there would be complete neutrality’.
In their written document, prosecutors accuse Barça of having ‘reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice president of the Referees Technical Committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions tending to favour FC Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees in matches that the club played, and thus in the results of competitions’.
Real Madrid are putting themselves forward as private prosecutors in the case, arguing that they were victims of Barça’s alleged wrongdoing, as will the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and a group of Barça supporters. ALSO READ: Spanish government to side against Barça over ‘referee payments’ case.
ALSO READ: Barça v Real Madrid … what was the club of the Franco regime?
🔊 @JoanLaportaFCB: "Reitero amb tota rotunditat que tinc el convenciment que el FC Barcelona no ha comès cap delicte de corrupció esportiva. Desitjo que més d’hora que tard quedi exonerat de tota responsabilitat penal en el procediment actualment en curs" pic.twitter.com/vddEF1Lhfm
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) April 17, 2023
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