Although the call ‘Barcagate case’ broke out in February 2020, three and a half years later, and while another matter such as the ‘Negreira case’ continues to be investigated, that scandal in which the previous government of Joseph Maria Bartomeu in Barcelona It continues its course in the courts.
After this week the ‘Què t’hi jugues’ program revealed a report delivered by the Mossos d’Esquadra in the Investigating Court number 13 in which the Catalan police concluded that the former Barça president had diverted money from the club for personal purposes through an external company, Amalgama, Bartomeu himself has tried to react. First, with a statement of allegations. Later, charging against the Mossos, whom he accuses of issuing “partial and biased reporting”. “They only try to discredit me,” she cries.
“It is evident that, since the beginning of the case, in 2020, the actions of the police force have only responded to the effort to discredit me without considering going beyond the legal limits that I should comply with,” says Bartomeu, who stresses that said report “is completely outside the constitutional channels because it is a prospective investigation, that is, without judicial authorization and unrelated to the specific cause that led to the seizure of documentation and telephone records (…). The Mossos systematically transgress the constitutional mandate to adhere to the delimitation of their functionss when it intervenes under the judicial authority”.
The Mossos put the focus of their report on the company Amalgama Marketing, whose owner is Miquel Sambola, whom the police place as a personal friend of Bartomeu. From here, the security forces consider that the contractual relationship (84,000 euros per year) had nothing to do with the professional services to be provided, but with “a platform for the diversion of money from Barcelona for the personal interest of Bartomeu”. Specifically, to pay third parties and journalists.
“Police force claim that is adjusted to assess concrete facts and not behaviors or ways of life. His claim to examine without any limit any of the decisions of an economic nature that have been taken during my presidency is inadmissible”, complains Bartomeu, who opens the range of suspicion: “It is a worrying circumstance that, as is public and notorious, there are several people in charge of the Mossos d’Esquadra who, having requested leave of absence, have been hired by the security area of FC Barcelona, being dismissed after a while, supposedly with the corresponding compensation, to rejoin once again within of the body. This situation generates, at the very least, suspicions and misgivings.”
Referring to the company Amalgama, Bartomeu argues that it was hired “on time, like many others in the sector.” “This is a story riddled with falsehoods, such as that it had been used to pay journalists or businessmen with the sole purpose of benefiting my public image.”
The Mossos stressed in their report that Miquel Sambola’s brother (Óscar Sambola) and father (Miquel Sambola Puebla) are manager and honorary president of Club Esportiu Laietà. In its day, said entity charged 1.5 million euros for alleged inconvenience, sound or of any kind, that could be caused by the demolition of the Miniestadi.
Meanwhile, the reports of the Mossos piling up and the judge Alejandra Gil tries to order each one of the allegations in a biblical summary.
2023-07-21 13:24:27
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