The tumultuous government of Josep Maria Bartomeu in Barcelona is going, according to the Mossos d’Esquadra, far beyond poor management. The Catalan police have handed over to judge Alejandra Gil, responsible for the investigation of the ‘Barçagate’ case, a report in which the former Barça president is pointed out and the alleged use of companies outside the club to satisfy the president’s personal affairs is revealed , in addition to payments to journalists.
This is how the program revealed it this Wednesday what you playwhich focuses on a contract with the company Amalgama Marketing, whose owner is Miquel Sambola, whom the Mossos establish as a personal friend of Bartomeu. The police warn that the contractual relationship would not have to do with the professional services to be provided, but with “a platform for the diversion of money from Barcelona for the personal interest of Bartomeu”.
According to Cadena Ser, said company had an agreement to invoice 84,000 euros annually from Barcelona. Although, according to the information seized in the records, the Catalan police consider that said money was used to pay third parties after receiving instructions from Bartomeu.
Messi’s Ballon d’Or
Although Amalgama also invoiced for other types of work, up to 223,000 euros, and with concepts such as a campaign for a Ballon d’Or from Leo Messi. The Mossos also point out that, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and while the Barcelona board of directors was trying to adjust their expense account, the then president of Barcelona ordered to double the payments to said company (from 7,000 to 15,000 euros per month).
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from among the 223,000 euros collected by the company Amalgama between 2015 and 2020According to the Mossos report, 43% would have been received by a businessman, another 29% by journalist Marçal Lorente, 14% by Miquel Sambola, and another 14% by journalists Albert Lesán and Albert de la Torres.
In their investigations, the Catalan police do not overlook the fact that the brother (Óscar Sambola) and the father of Miquel Sambola (Miquel Sambola Puebla) are manager and honorary president of the Club Esportiu Laietà, the same entity that once charged 1, 5 million euros for the alleged inconvenience that could be caused by the demolition of the Miniestadi.