In addition to Barcelona, José María Enríquez Negreira and Josep Maria Bartomeu, the Prosecutor’s Office also accuses Sandro Rosell and former club executives Albert Soler (former Secretary of State for Sport) and Óscar Grau in their complaint before the courts. Barça has been denounced, as a legal person, for a continuous crime of corruption between individuals in the sports field, while Bartomeu and Rosell are also accused of a crime of unfair administration and another of falsifying a commercial document.
According to the complaint presented this Friday by the Prosecutor’s Office, the objective of the Barça entity with Enríquez Negreira was that, “in exchange for money”, the former number two of the CTA “carry out actions tending to favor Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and thus in the results of the competitions. The former leader of the collegiate, however, declared before the Tax Agency that he was hired by Barça because the club wanted to guarantee “neutral” arbitrations that would not harm him.
Given the alleged purchase of Spanish referees by Barça, as considered by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office, Bartomeu will not therefore be the only former Barca president investigated for payments of seven million euros to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA). The Public Ministry also includes in its complaint Rosell, who was the top leader of the culé entity between 2010 and 2014, before Bartomeu held the presidency until 2020.
The Prosecutor’s Office points out that, “through Rosell and Bartomeu, Barcelona reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the defendant (Enríquez Negreira)” and recalls that “the designation for each party is carried out within the CTA, an organization also in charge of the evaluations -in which the defendant participated- for the promotions and demotions of the arbitrators, as well as the proposal of candidates for international arbitrators”. According to the Public Ministry, “the companies of Enríquez Negreira (Nilsat and Dasnil) issued invoices that were presented to Barcelona for payment without them responding to any real provision or technical advisory services.”
The Prosecutor’s Office claims to the Investigating Court number 1 of Barcelona that his complaint be admitted for processing so that the scandal that shakes Barça and has called into question the cleanliness of all Spanish football can be sanctioned by the courts with penalties for the accused of at least between six months and four years in prison. Sandro Rosell has already spent almost two years in pretrial detention, accused of criminal organization and money laundering, but was acquitted by the National Court, when the Public Ministry requested six years in prison for him.
Gaspart and Laporta, witnesses
Despite the fact that in principle Sandro Rosell, like Joan Gaspart and Joan Laporta, was only going to be summoned as a witness in the ‘Negreira case’, considering that his alleged crimes were prescribed, the Prosecutor’s Office has finally decided to accuse in the courts to Bartomeu’s predecessor. It also demands that Albert Soler and Óscar Grau be investigated. Payments from Barcelona to Enríquez Negreira to supposedly guarantee the Catalan club beneficial arbitrations occurred between 2001 and 2018. After being president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD) in 2011, where he also served as general director in two stages, Albert Soler was director of professional sports for Barcelona until 2021, while Óscar Grau was executive director of the club between 2016 and 2021.
«Óscar Grau and Albert Soler (denounced for the same crimes as Rosell and Bartomeu) were of the highest confidence of Josep Maria Bartomeu. With organizational and control powers within Barcelona, knowing the amounts that were invoiced annually from January 2011 to June 2018, they acted on behalf of and for the direct benefit of Barcelona,” the Prosecutor’s Office highlights in its letter sent to the court.
The investigation by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office has been halted as a result of the criminal complaint filed by VAR referee Xavier Estrada Fernández against Enríquez Negreira and his son, for corruption and sports fraud. However, the conclusions reached by the Public Ministry make Barcelona even more complicated, which could also be punished with sports sanctions by UEFA and FIFA. The highest European body is already investigating this scandal that could even lead to the exclusion of Barça from continental competitions for at least one season.
In the case of Joan Gaspart and Joan Laporta, despite maintaining their relationship with the former vice-president of the arbitration group -the current maximum leader culé in his first stage at the head of the club-, they will not be investigated for the ‘Negreira case’. In his case, the very serious events generated as a result of Barça’s controversial contract with Enríquez Negreira, which Bartomeu ended in 2018, when the former Catalan referee ceased to be the leader of the CTA, have already prescribed.