March 11, (THEWILL) – Barcelona Football Club has been charged with “continued corruption in business” by Spanish prosecutors investigating payments to a company owned by Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018.
Prosecutors revealed on Friday, that Barcelona paid over €7.3m (£6.4m; $7.8m) to DASNIL 95 and a second company, NILSAT, both owned by Negreira. The football club has launched its own investigation and denies any wrongdoing.
However, prosecutors have accused Barcelona of reaching a “strictly confidential verbal agreement” with Negreira, who was the Vice-President of the CTA, Spanish football’s referee’s committee. In exchange for money, Negreira is alleged to have carried out actions “tending to favour Barcelona in the decision making of referees in the matches played by the club”.
False administration and falsifying a commercial document charges have also been brought against parties in the case, with two former officials from Bartomeu’s time as Barca President also charged. La Liga has already said it cannot investigate because the case relates to events that took place more than three years ago.
However, European football’s governing body could impose sporting sanctions as any offence would not be time-barred under its rules. Negreira’s son, Javier, has said the technical reports he was paid for have been provided to prosecutors. There still remains doubt over the exact nature of the services Enriquez Negreira provided to Barca, as he claimed no documentation of his work existed because it was always conducted verbally.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
