Khaberni - FC Barcelona faces a new chapter in the corruption case known in the media as the "Negreira Case," after the judge overseeing the investigation agreed to formally summon the Catalan club to court.
It is expected that the Deputy President, Elena Fort, along with the former President, Juan Gaspart, who will be summoned to testify on February 6th, will appear before the judge.
The case relates to financial payments made by Barcelona to José María Enríquez Negreira, former Vice President of the Spanish Referees Committee (CTA), totaling about 7.3 million euros from 2001 to 2018, for "consultancy services in refereeing".
According to the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo," the judge also ordered the club to submit the original contracts signed with Negreira's companies: Dasnil 95 S.L. and Nilsad S.C.P., which received the payments for providing technical reports and alleged refereeing consultations.
The judge also requested Barcelona to identify the technicians or employees involved in those services and to provide the original documents and recordings that prove the nature of the consultancy work provided over those years.
Giving Testimony
The former President of the club, Juan Gaspart, who presided over Barcelona from 2000 to 2003, will give testimony as a witness, after stating in October 2023 that the club "committed no legal infraction" in what is known as the Negreira case.
The current President, Juan Laporta, is also scheduled to be heard in December 2023, following his earlier exclusion from the investigation due to the statute of limitations on matters from his first tenure (2003/2010).
Former coaches Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde are also to be summoned to testify about the nature of these refereeing reports.
Justifications of Former Presidents
The former Presidents, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, previously asserted that the payments were for "valuable technical consultancy services for the team's coaches", indicating that the aim was not to influence game outcomes but to improve team performance through referee performance analysis.
Rosell defended his position explaining that the "consultancy service was at market price", mentioning that each report was valued at about 250 euros only, "which is not enough in any case to buy refereeing".
With the ongoing investigations and the expansion to include new individuals, the Negreira case appears to be one of the most sensitive files in Barcelona's history, given its potential repercussions on the club's reputation and legal standing in Spain and Europe.
