The head of the Examining Court No. 1 of Barcelona, Joaquín Aguirre, has opened the door to investigate FC Barcelona for a new crime of bribery after paying 7.3 million euros to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreirabetween 2001 and 2018.
The instructor of the Negreira case opens this possibility in an order issued this Tuesday, to which he has had access digital freedom: “In another order that will be dictated soon, it will be explained that there is another legal-criminal option to qualify the conduct of FC Barcelona for having paid the investigated Enríquez Negreira the approximate amount of seven million euros for some eighteen years, in such a way that the allegations made by the defense of FC Barcelona regarding the jurisprudential criteria regarding the person harmed in the crime of article 286 bis of the Penal Code could have fallen into bag torn”.
It should be noted that so far, possible crimes of sports corruption, money laundering, unfair administration and documentary falsification are being investigated in the case.
Legal sources consulted by LD point out that “the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and therefore, the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) They are private entities but the Law grants them public functions Therefore, they are considered privately-based public corporations, like the rest of sports federations, professional associations or Chambers of Commerce”.
“Their function is to organize official competitions and they have a public representative character, since they have the mission of guaranteeing the cleanliness of the competition and in exchange they receive public money,” they add.
Related
The same sources consulted by LD highlight that “a public official is anyone who performs a public function. Therefore, the members of the CTA dependent on the Federation for criminal purposes are officials and can commit a crime of bribery. In the Negreira case, Barcelona and its top leaders or economic managers could have committed an active bribery and the one who was vice president of the CTA a crime of passive bribery. The bribery investigation could lead to the imputation of other people in the case, who were not affected by the other crimes.”
Bribery is a crime that is regulated in articles 419 to 427 bis of the Penal Code, within the crimes against the Public Administration.
This is stated in article 419 of the Criminal Code: “The authority or public official who, for his own benefit or that of a third party, receives or requests, by himself or through an intermediary, a gift, favor or compensation of any kind or accepts an offer or promise to carry out in the exercise of his position an act contrary to the duties inherent to it or to not carry out or unjustifiably delay the one that should be carried out, he will incur a prison sentence of three to six years, a fine of twelve to twenty-four months, and disqualification for employment or public office and for the exercise of the right to passive suffrage for a period of nine to twelve years, without prejudice to the penalty corresponding to the act carried out, omitted or delayed due to remuneration or promise, if it constitutes a crime.” .
Crime of sports corruption
In a second order known this Tuesday, the instructor delved into the same line of questioning the fit of the crime of sports corruption and opening the door to study other possible crimes: “Until now, the payment of the annual amount to the Vice President of the CTA, Enríquez Negreira, has been described as a crime of sports corruption of article 286 bis of the CP”.
“It must be studied whether the annual payment to Vice President Negreira is, in itself, a crime, even if Negreira’s payment to specific referees to alter the result of certain matches is not proven. Throughout the judicial investigation it will be determined whether the annual payment a Negreira constitutes a crime of article 286 bis or it is another crime. In any case, we are facing a novel form of possible illegitimate retribution to soccer referees”.
2023-09-05 18:45:02
#Barcelona #Negreira #investigated #bribery #crime
