“The culers can rest easy”

BarcelonaDuring the month of January, a mysterious WhatsApp message circulated among some journalists announcing the publication of a “scandal with catastrophic consequences” for Barça. Days passed and there was no news, until the Negreira case broke out in mid-February. It was a matter of alleged corruption for the purchase of referees which, at the time, was still in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office, which was investigating it. But once it was already on everyone’s lips, the ball kept getting bigger and the media pressure on the case increased, to the point that one of the active members, the Catalan Xavier Estrada Fernández – who acts as referee of VAR–, decided to file an individual complaint. On Friday, the Prosecutor’s Office took a step further and submitted documents to the court to be added to Estrada’s complaint. Thus, the public ministry accuses Barça – as a legal entity – of “continued corruption”, former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, and former senior officials Albert Soler and Òscar Grau, in addition to former referee Enríquez Negreira. From here, several questions arise. How long will the case last? What consequences can it have?

ARA has contacted several penalty judges, who agree that there will be no imminent sanctions for Barça. The consequences could only come in the long term and in the event that there was a conviction. However, there is consensus that this process will be very long and that these cases of alleged corruption are very difficult to prove: it is not the accused who must defend their innocence, but the accusations who must prove their guilt

Barça will be able to continue competing without obstacles

In the worst case scenario, according to the penalties contained in article 31 bis, the most serious punishment that Barça could receive would be dissolution. And, to a lesser extent, the impossibility of playing official competitions for a certain time, analyzes Inés Guardiola, founding partner of the Guardiola Penalistas office. But, as Felipe García, from Círculo Legal Madrid adds, “in 99% of cases of continued corruption there is a financial penalty”. Therefore, “what will be worse is the reputational damage, the discredit”. Javier Tebas, the president of the League, already said that, administratively, there could be no consequences such as relegation or the loss of points. In addition, and since the procedure will be long, Barça will be able to continue playing in European competitions because the club is protected by the presumption of innocence. Looking back, there is the precedent of Milan, who took part in the 2006-07 Champions League despite their involvement in the Calciopoli scandal, which showed the club had fixed matches, and dropped points in the 2005-06 Scudetto . “UEFA considered that its regulations did not make it clear enough that Milan could be excluded”, adds García.

The case is in the hands of magistrate Joaquín Aguirre López, of the court of inquiry number 1 of Barcelona, ​​who will decide whether to admit it to proceedings, although it is taken for granted that this will be the case. The defense of one of the defendants explained to the ARA that, at the moment, they have not had access to any kind of documentation and that they have all the information through the media: “The process will be long. As far as it goes, the big problem is not the payment to Negreira, but the question of whether or not the services were rendered. As little as this second issue can be proven, the case may end up falling.”

“The instruction will last a year, at least. If the defendants bring exoneration papers, the judge could dismiss the case earlier. But it seems that a lot of people will start to parade and that the imputations may be extended”, observes Inés Guardiola. Without going any further, the Spanish Federation already announced that it would intervene if the case reached the courts. The same goes for the League of Thebes.

Why is Joan Laporta not accused if he also orders payments?

Who does not appear in the indictment is Joan Laporta, current president. A fact that takes pressure off the Barcelona institution. Laporta was also the president between 2003 and 2010, when payments were already made to Enríquez Negreira’s companies, but “since the continued corruption in the sports field was not punished until 2010 in legal entities, it cannot do an unfavorable retroactive activity”, points out Guardiola.

In any case, the current president will act as a witness, as well as Negreira’s son, Javier Enríquez Romero. “It sounds like a strategy by the Prosecutor’s Office because that way it will be able to explain things: the accused are not obliged to answer. The witnesses, yes. And they must tell the truth”, says García. Javi Enríquez was the administrator of the companies (Dasnil 95 and Nisdal SAP) that received payments from the Barcelona club.

In the eyes of the Prosecutor’s Office, Estrada’s complaint has harmed it because it has led to the interruption of its investigation, which began a year ago. Now all the documentation is in the hands of the magistrate. According to the defense of one of the defendants, this complaint by the arbitrator could serve to ensure that the case cannot be statute-barred: ten years are counted from the time the judge starts the procedure. Therefore, in the event that the prosecution’s investigation had been extended until 2024, Sandro Rosell could have been excluded.

Now the big challenge that the public ministry will have, as well as the private accusations that are added to the case, will be to prove that they tried to buy arbitration favors. As the pundits say, you can pull out statistics on flagged and red penalties, but it’s hard to prove a direct relationship between money and refereeing decisions. “In any case, it will have to be proven that it was intended to distort the competition, not through a specific result, but in the overall activity”, says Felipe García. In other words, “if it was allegedly paid to receive a favorable climate”.

Florentino Pérez mou fitxa

Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, called “urgently”, this Sunday, the board of the club after learning on Friday that the Prosecutor’s Office denounced Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, ex-presidents of the club, for the case Negreira

“Given the seriousness of the accusations made by the Prosecutor’s Office of Barcelona against Barça and two of its presidents for the well-founded suspicions of corruption and their relationships with who was the vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, the The president has urgently convened the Board of Directors tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.,” says Real Madrid’s statement on its website.

The purpose of this call is “to decide on the actions that Real Madrid deems appropriate in relation to this matter”. According to some Madrid media, it is expected that Madrid will also be involved in the case when the judge accepts the prosecution’s complaint.