Justice dismisses Barcelona as private prosecution in Negreiro case

Referee giving instructions The case of Negreiro he rejected the request this Tuesday Barcelona be a private suit in the case. Court of First Instance No. 1 in Barcelona is investigating the millions of payments (7.3 million) that the Barça club gave to the vice president for almost two decades Technical Committee of Judges, José María Enríquez Negreira.

The case investigates “actions” to favor Barcelona “in the decision of the referees” and was opened after a complaint filed by the prosecutor’s office for the continuing criminal offense of corruption between individuals in the sports field, the continuing criminal offense of dishonest administration and the criminal offense of falsehood in a commercial document. The club still believes it will be able to play in the next Champions League, as UEFA has not yet made a final decision, despite the fact that two inspectors from the European federation body were in favor of punishment.

A report has been filed due to the scandal that completely engulfs Barcelona Sandro Rosell, against Josep Maria Bartomeu, against Barcelona, ​​against Enríquez Negreira and against former directors Oscar Grau and Albert Soler and the company from Negreira DASNIL 95 SL. The league emerged as a private suit. And Real Madrid, because they felt that they could have been harmed if Barcelona had been favored in the decisions of the referees, and thus in the results of the competition. Justice recognized the white club as an accusation, but not Barcelona, ​​which sought a double condition: that of the accuser and the accused.

The Barcelona entity feels aggrieved by the alleged commission of a criminal offense of unfair administration by the team’s previous directors. His argument is that the club’s property is allegedly being mismanaged, and as a result, it has been damaged. Regardless of the existence of a real and effective provision of an arbitrage technical advisory service, this service would be billed twice, formalizing, in addition, one of the aforementioned channels of billing through inserted traders who received a commission, as defended in Barca, which believes that the case puts club as a passive subject of a criminal offense and it is necessary that it has the dual status of investigation and private prosecution.

For the investigating judge, the Barça club’s claim that it appears in its damaged state is “contradictory”. The judge relies on the public speech of the current president, Joan Laporta. He asserted that the advisory services were provided efficiently, that they were documented by detailed invoices with associated concepts and that they were paid in Myanmar, recording the payments on the club’s accounts, explaining the preliminary conclusions of the audit report. compatibility“from which no conclusion can be drawn about the existence of any patrimonial damage to the entity”, as the judge reminds.

The judge, at the request of the League, recently expanded the list of those investigated against Javier Enríquez, who was part of a business network designed by his father José María Enríquez Negreira to collect 7.3 million from Barça for 18 years, while he was a referee number two. In the warrant charging Javier Negreira, the judge expanded the crimes charged and added alleged money laundering. The judge extended the investigation for the criminal offense of money laundering from 2001 until today.

The case investigates “actions” in favor of Barcelona “in the decision making of referees”. “The facts that have been investigated are indicative of certain actions by people associated with Barcelona who tend to favor the club in the decision-making of referees and the results of competitions,” the court’s decision states.

The judge also decided to extend the secrecy of the proceedings for a month. He is waiting to receive documentation from Barcelona, ​​the Federation, the Tax Administration, Social Security and the remittance company. He asked the Blaugrana entity for the originals of 629 reports, 43 CDS and the other four reports Laporta referred to in his public appearance on April 17, in his first and only press conference to explain the situation at the club.

Justice requests the identification of the people who made up the executive structure of Barcelona, ​​that of the sports vice-presidents and other top sports managers of the club, as well as the technical or sports secretariat, as well as general directors, executive directors, financial directors, as well as any other position, regardless of the name, with the ability to implement strategic decisions made by the collegial bodies of the club and economic managers of the entity with the ability to make decisions of economic and financial importance.

Likewise, he must submit as many reports as have been issued, and the persons responsible for them will be listed for the period from 2001 to the present, both compatibility by an ethics or advisory committee, if any.

The courts require the Spanish Football Federation to provide a list of First and Second Division referees between 2010 and today. And to the Tax Agency, to attach a statement on dealings with third parties of Enríquez, father and son, as well as the identification of their financial products, the balance of said products of which they were or are currently the owners and lawyers.