Barcelona charged with corruption over referee payments
Published on: March 10, 2023 07:01 (EAT)
FC Barcelona is under investigation by the Barcelona Prosecutor's office. PHOTO/COURTESY: CNN
Spanish
prosecutors on Friday charged 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 after current Barca boss Joan Laporta insisted his club had
never "bought referees".
Reports
claim the Catalan side allegedly paid 6.5 million euros ($6.9 million) between
2001 and 2018 to Negreira's firm.
"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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