Barcelona Charged With Corruption By Prosecutors Over Payments To Negreira
Spain’s prosecutor’s office have charged Barcelona with corruption for paying DASNIL 95 €7.3 million, reports COPE.
The La Liga club made payments to the company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
The transactions took place between 2001 and 2018. Negreira was vice president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee from 1993 to 2018.
A complaint has now been filed against Barca, but the court has yet to decide whether to take up the case.
The club’s former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu and former directors Oscar Grau and Albert Soler have been accused of corruption in sports and unfair administration.
According to the complaint, Barca reached a verbal agreement with Negreira to favour them in the selection of referees.
The club admitted to hiring an external consultant to provide reports relating to professional refereeing.
However, they denied any wrongdoing as Spanish clubs do employ former officials legally.
In their case, Negreira was still working for the Spanish FA and in a position of influence.
Barcelona have been charged with the crime of ‘continued corruption in business’.
Individuals involved could face up to four years in jail if found guilty in court, while the club could be fined heavily.
La Liga cannot inflict sporting punishments on Barca as investigations can no longer be carried out on the matter.
However, UEFA are not prevented by a statute of limitations despite the events happening over three years ago.
The Camp Nou club could be banned from participating in any European competition for a season if found guilty.
