The judge of Barcelona Silvia López Mejías has admitted for processing this Wednesday the complaint filed by the prosecution against FC Barcelona as a legal person and its former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartemeu for a crime of sports corruption for the payment of millions in amounts to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, in exchange for allegedly favor the Barcelona club in the decisions of the referees in the matches. The complaint is also addressed to the exexecutives of the club Óscar Grau and Albert Soler. The magistrate has also admitted the complaint filed by the arbitrator Xavier Estrada, which will be processed in the same procedure, and has commissioned the investigation to the Civil Guard.
The complaint states that through Rosell and Bartomeu, Barça reached and maintained a verbal agreement “strictly confidential” with Enríquez Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice president of the committee and “in exchange for money” carry out actions tending to favor the club in the decision-making of the referees in the matches and “thus in the results of the competitions”. For this work, the former arbitration leader, through his companies, drew bills that were presented to FC Barcelona for collection, “without them responding to any actual advisory benefits or services”, maintains the prosecution.
Payments made by Barça to Enríquez Negreira from 2001 to 2018, during his vice presidency at the CTA, exceeded the €7.3 million according to the history of invoiced amounts. “This meant a real remuneration not provided for in the club’s statutes or approved by the general assembly for what it lacked a title to justify it. Ultimately, these perceptions they had no legal support nor any statutory one”, details the prosecutor’s office.
for eight years
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However, the investigation would focus on the years that, according to the prosecution, are not considered prescribed, that is, between December 2010, when the crime of corruption between individuals in the sports field came into force, and May 2018, when the FC Barcelona put an end to disbursements. In that period, the Barça club paid Enriquez Negreira around almost 5 million euros.
The figure must be specified if the support judge of the Court of Instruction number 1 of Barcelona requires the Barcelona club and the former arbitration leader copy of invoices that accredit the operations carried out from 2011 to 2014, during the Rosell’s mandate, and that have not been quantified. Another issue that must be detailed is who were the general managers, financial, executive and treasurers of the entity during Rosell’s tenure. The prosecution considers that the crimes of corruption between individuals in the field sports, unfair administration and false commercial document.