The case filed by prosecutors against Barcelona last week has been approved by a Spanish court, and an inquiry into claims of corruption will now begin.
Following the disclosure of payments made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of the refereeing committee, prosecutors filed charges against Barca on Friday.
Former club officials Oscar Grau, Alber Soler, and Negreira are all named as defendants in the case along with former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu.
They are charged with fraud in administration, corporate corruption, sports corruption, and document forgery.
Between 2001 and 2018, Barca gave Negreira's business over €7 million while he was the vice chairman of the refereeing committee. Previously, he officiated in the highest division of Spanish soccer.
The payments were made, according to the current Barca president Joan Laporta, for “technical reports about referees" and denied the club has ever "bought referees or influence.”
However, prosecutors charged Rosell and Bartomeu of striking a deal with Negreira in the Friday indictment “he would carry out actions aimed at favouring Barca in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club and thus in the results of the competitions."
Prior to Bartomeu taking over in 2014, Rosell presided over Barca. Bartomeu left the Catalan club in 2020 after serving as its president for six years. Laporta was chosen as his successor in 2021.
This Thursday, LaLiga president Javier Tebas expressed his ashamedness over the situation and chastised Laporta for failing to provide a suitable justification for the payments.
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