Barcelona president Joan Laporta 'charged with bribery' | OneFootball

The judge investigating the ‘Negreira’ case has now charged Barcelona president Joan Laporta with bribery, according to multiple reports in Spain.

The accusation relates to Laporta’s first presidential term, which took place between 2003 and 2010, and means he has now been implicated in the ‘Negreira’ case alongside former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, former directors Oscar Grau and Albert Soler, and the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees José María Enríquez Negreira and his son Javier.

The case relates to alleged bribes made to referees, and last week judge Joaquín Aguirre stated that there were “more than ample indications that Laporta committed the same acts as subsequent presidents. These facts consist of FC Barcelona having paid large amounts of money to José María Enríquez Negreira for being one of the vice presidents of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.”

The court has now officially charged Laporta, which means that the investigation into alleged bribes made by other Barça directors could now be extended up to the year 2008.

The statute of limitations previously only applied to payments made to Enríquez Negreira between 2001 and 2007, but Laporta’s implication means a period between 2008 and 2018 is also now under investigation.