Two former presidents of Barcelona, ​​​​in the crosshairs for millionaire payments to one of the chief referees in Spain

The provincial prosecutor of Barcelona formalized this Friday a complaint against the FC Barcelona (as a legal entity) and its former presidents Joseph Maria Bartomeu AND Sandro Rosell for alleged millionaire payments to the former Vice-President of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was also accused, as were former Barça managers Òscar Grau and Albert Soler. The crimes he is accused of are corruption between private individuals, incorrect administration and false documents.

The prosecution’s complaint was presented to the Inquiry Court 1 of the Catalan capital, where an investigation was already underway on the basis of another complaint, presented by the arbitrator Xavier Estrada Fernández, and aims to clarify whether there was irregularities in the payments that Enríquez Negreira received from the club as compensation alleged advice for the players and the technical bodies of the institution.

According to the prosecutor’s office, which has been investigating the case for a year, these payments were not compensation for this alleged consultative role, but were aimed at “favoring Barça in the decision-making process of the referees in the matches they have played”. the club”. According to the motivation of the Public Prosecutor, Rosell and Bartomeu allegedly agreed with the head of the Technical Referee Committee to obtain this preferential treatment.

The document presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office considers that the 7.3 million that Enríquez Negreira received between 2001 and 2018 through the companies Negreria Nilsat and Dasnil95 constituted “a fee not provided for in the club bylaws or approved by the general meeting, so there was no title to justify it”. In the period under investigation (2014-2018), during the presidencies of Rosell and Bartomeu, the former referee received 2.9 million.

According to the investigation, the two companies created by Enríquez Negreira only received payments from the Catalan club, collected in bearer checks. The invoices issued by these companies “did not correspond to the provision of services” and, moreover, Barça was unable to present documentation proving the alleged services provided by the head of the arbitration.

The next step will correspond to the judge Joaquín Aguirre López, who must determine whether he admits the prosecution’s complaint and proceed with the judicial proceeding. If the alleged crimes are verified in this trial, the defendants could receive prison sentences of up to four years and Barça, as a legal entity, could be punished up to its dissolution.

The investigation that led to the complaint filed this Friday arose from an inspection of the Treasury by Enríquez Negreira for payments received between 2016 and 2018, a period in which Dasnil95 delivered 33 invoices to the Treasury of the Catalan institute for almost 1, €7m for “preparing and sending technical videos to the club” or “technical video advice”. These alleged videos were requested from Barça, which was unable to provide even one.

Despite this, Bartomeu – the main target on behalf of the club – strongly denied that the payments were linked to referee manipulation. “It is absolutely false and absurd to think that we have bought some referees. There is nothing to hide. If we had influenced the referees, they would not have disallowed a goal on the last day against Atlético (from Madrid) which gave us a championship. It’s absurd to think so. And I could give other examples,” said the man who presided over the institution between 2015 and 2020.

Enríquez Negreira was a referee in the Spanish first division from 1977 to 1992. After his retirement, he became president of the Catalan College and in 1994 became vice-president of the RFAF Technical Committee of Referees, a position he held until 2018. While he admitted receiving the payments noted, he said they were for advisory duties, but he was also unable to present any documentary evidence regarding this alleged advice.

Source: EFE