Spanish prosecutors on Friday charged the football club of Barcelona with corruption over payments the club made to a former refereeing chief’s company.
Two of the club’s former presidents, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell and the ex-refereeing chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira are facing the same charge.
The affair concerns alleged payments Barcelona made to Negreira, the former refereeing technical committee vice-president, for providing the club with verbal advice on topics relating to referees.
The charges come just days afer current Barca boss Joan Laporta insisted his club had never “bought referees.”
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Reports claim the Catalan side allegedly paid 6.5 million euros ($6.9 million) between 2001and 2018 to Negreira’s firm.
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“Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never,” said Laporta on Tuesday.
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