2023-04-17 22:42:32
More than two months after the outbreak of the scandal that led to learning that the FC Barcelona He had the number two in Spanish arbitration paid for many years, Joan Laporta supposedly summoned the media to answer the questions that until now had remained unanswered. And after more than two hours on the microphone, the answers and explanations that the club members are demanding still have not arrived. Or rather those who do not agree with the series of arguments offered by the president, more charged with populist and self-exculpatory victimhood that of real transparency.
It is perfectly possible that, as Laporta stated, in this still extremely opaque operation no crime has been committed. But once the prosecution has considered that there are sufficient indications to continue the investigation, the club’s directives are in a situation of presumption of innocence until justice is pronounced; but under suspicion. Nor has it been proven, and it does not seem that there will be any evidence in this regard, that Barça’s money was used to adulterate the competition by buying the benevolence of those who decided the course of each game from the pitch. But that does not mean that those inexplicable millions of euros had such a questionable destination.
The president of Barça does not have to work very hard to convince when he describes Real Madrid’s accusatory attitude as cynical. The network of influences, exchanges of favours, meddling or confrontations with the bodies that administer Spanish football woven from the box at the Bernabéu is too dense for the white club to be the one to come to the fore to tear their clothes off. But pointing out the eternal rival as ultimately responsible for any evil is a resource as easy as hackneyed and worn. Like the eternal competition between the two greats to dispute the status of the team most affected by the arbitrations, viewed with astonishment by the rest of Spanish football oblivious to the ability to influence institutionally and pressure the media from both. To all this, that the next card to be played by Laporta would be that of pointing to himself and the club as a victim of hostility to any manifestation of Catalanness could be taken for granted. Not so much, that the appearance of this Monday did not come out not a single new or relevant information.
We have raised several questions since the case came to light, and they remain without satisfactory explanation. Who established the link with Negreira? Why did no Barça president cut him off while he was vice president of the Arbitration Technical Committee? Who set such a generous price, and why did it keep rising? What was the final destination of those funds? What real compensation was offered by Enríquez Negreira (not his son) in exchange for the money received? Did sports managers make any use of those dossiers? Who knew of its existence?
Whatever Laporta says, the disparate relationship between the services provided whose results have been shown and the money invested only leaves one dilemma: o negligent waste and lack of control o practices of unjustifiable use of club resources for the benefit of who knows who. It is rash to assume one or the other. But in neither of the two cases is there any reason to continue sticking out the chest.
#Editorial #case #Negreira #Laporta #excuses #answers