Barcelona to be charged for ‘continued corruption in sport’ in the Negreira scandal | OneFootball

According to the latest report from El Pais, FC Barcelona will be charged by the Preosecutor’s office in Spain for continued corruption in sport for their involvement in the Enriquez Negreira payoff scandal.

The complaint will point to the club as the responsible party for the crime, more specifically targeting former president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his managemental team for the same.

The development comes in light of the Negreira scandal that was exposed last month. Investigations revealed that Barcelona paid close to €7 million to Negreira for insights regarding the refereeing, but there are claims of the payment being made to manipulate results too.

Both Bartomeu and the former vice-president of the referees’ committee, Negreira, could face serious sanctions if proven to have been involved in corruption. It is said that the punishment for the crime in question could range from imprisonment to a severe fine.

The enquiry into the incident revealed that such payments have been going on from 2001 until 2018. However, only the last seven or eight years will be considered in court, given that the Penal code did not exist before that.

There is an interesting aspect to the case, for the investigation revealed that even Joan Laporta encouraged such payments as part of his first tenure as president of the club. Further, the Spanish businessman even increased the value of the payments made for insights.

However, Laporta will not be sanctioned given that his term ended before 2010. Any sanctions in the upcoming case, thus, must be borne by Bartomeu and his men.

Earlier this month, Laporta publicly addressed the elephant in the room and called the payments a means of securing an ‘external consultant’.

“Barça has in the past contracted the services of an external consultant to obtain reports for lower division players and for refereeing advice, a service hired by other Spanish clubs too,” he had said.

It remains to be seen what, if any, sporting repercussions Barcelona will face due to the Prosecutor’s decision to charge them.