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Rosell, also denounced for Barça’s payments to Negreira “to be favored” with the arbitrations

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 in business in the sports field, while Bartomeu and Rosell are also accused of unfair administration and document falsification.

According to the complaint presented 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, according to the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office, Bartomeu will therefore not be the only former Barça 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 Rosell, top leader of the culé entity between 2010 and 2014, in its complaint.

The Prosecutor’s Office presented this Friday in the Investigating Court number 1 of Barcelona the complaint announced three days before so that the scandal that shakes Barça and has called into question the cleanliness of all Spanish football can be sanctioned by justice with penalties for defendants between six months and four years in jail. Sandro Rosell has already spent almost two years in preventive 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.

Laporta and Gaspart, 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 decided to finally 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.

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 further complicate Barcelona, ​​which could also be punished with sports sanctions by UEFA and FIFA. The highest European body is also investigating a scandal that could lead to the exclusion of Barça from continental competitions.

In the case of Joan Gaspart and Joan Laporta, despite maintaining their relationship with the former vice-president of the arbitration group, the current culé top leader in his first stage at the helm of the club, they will not be investigated for the ‘Negreira case’, having prescribed the facts, consequence of a Barça contract with Enríquez Negreira that Bartomeu ended in 2018, when the former Catalan referee ceased to be the leader of the CTA.

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