Joan Laporta declared this morning at the Ciutat de la Justicia, as a witness, within the framework of the investigation of Negreira case at the request of Alejandra Gil, the judge investigating the case and who wants to know first-hand the reason for the payments to the number two referees in the first period of the presidency of the current Blaugrana president, which spans from 2003 to 2010.
The statement is part of the investigation for possible crimes of sports corruption, unfair administration and falsification of a commercial document on account. payment of 7.5 million euros during 17 years to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira and his son Javier.
Since this is the investigation phase of the case and not a trial, Laporta’s appearance was behind closed doors in the judge’s office, who also summoned the former Barcelona coaches for this Friday. Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique Martínez, who currently manage Athletic and Paris Saint-Germain and who have testified before via videoconference.
“I don’t even know Negreira”
Laporta has reaffirmed his version, the one he gave to the press to explain the Negreira Case: “We paid for reports, in no case so that they favored Barça. Barça, at that time, was the admiration of the world. An example and a football reference. We did not need any favors”as has emerged and been published by Sport. “We never wanted to alter the competition,” he added, according to information from Cadena SER.
The president also stated that he did not maintain any type of personal relationship with Negreira: “In fact, I don’t even know Negreira or anyone around him. I never had a relationship with them”.
Laporta explained that these payments were already part of the club’s internal functioning when it entered its first stage: “I inherited those payments, I asked the sports management and they told us to continue with the reports”. And he explained why these reports are no longer available: “We do not have reports on the first stage because they are destroyed every five years”.
Valverde and Luis Enrique: “We were not aware of the reports”
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On the same day, the former Barça coaches Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique Martínez They also testified as witnesses, both by videoconference. Valverde did it from Lezama (Athletic Club), while Luis Enrique intervened from the PSG sports city. Both agreed that they were not aware of these arbitration reports during their time at the club. “We were not aware of the reports”they stated. Valverde went further by indicating that he did not consider them necessary for his work: “I didn’t need them either.”
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