Due to payments made to a former vice-president of Spain’s referee’s committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the football club, Barcelona has been accused of corruption.
It was discovered last month that between 2001 and 2018, Barcelona reportedly paid Negreira and a business he owns a claimed total of 8.4 million euros (£7.4 million), BBC reported.
The indictment against Barca, previous club officials, and Negreira for “corruption,” “breach of trust,” and “false business records” was made public in court in Barcelona on Friday.
The club as well as past presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell are the targets of these proceedings, which were filed by the public prosecutor’s office in Barcelona.
La Liga CEO, Javier Tebas’ made comments last month, saying that the president of La Liga at the time, Joan Laporta, should step down if he is unable to justify the payments.
Laporta responded by insisting he will not give Tebas “what he’d like by stepping down” and the charges came three days after Laporta declared his team had “never bought referees”.
He stated on Tuesday, “Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never,”
