MADRID (Reuters) – Barcelona President Joan Laporta is currently the subject of an official investigation due to suspicions of bribery. The investigation covers a span of two decades and focuses on the activities of Spain’s refereeing committee, as revealed in a court document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
In March, prosecutors filed a complaint regarding alleged payments totaling over 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) made over a period of 17 years to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who served as the vice-president of the Spanish football federation’s refereeing committee from 1993 to 2018.
Laporta, who began his second term as Barca’s president in 2021, had also previously held the position from 2003 to 2010.
Last month, investigating judge Joaquin Aguirre Lopez suggested that Barcelona may have benefitted from corrupt activities and subsequently launched an investigation into the club for suspected “active bribery”.
As part of the investigation, Aguirre has now named Laporta and “all those who were members of the board of directors of FC Barcelona during his mandate or who had an effective responsibility in decision-making to allegedly make the illicit payments” to Negreira and his son as suspects.
Barcelona, the reigning LaLiga champions, have denied any wrongdoing. They released a statement in February asserting that the club had paid an external consultant for providing “technical reports related to professional refereeing”, a practice which they claim is commonplace among professional football clubs.
On Wednesday, Barcelona informed Reuters that their legal department is handling the case.
In Spain, being placed under investigation does not automatically indicate guilt, and no formal charges can be filed until the initial phase of the investigation concludes.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Ken Ferris)
