The State Attorney General’s Office continues to review the brief on the complaint against the FC Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, Òscar Grau, Albert Soler, and José María Enríquez Negreira. and Javier Enriquez for the crimes of corruption in business within the sports field and unfair administration. Among the matters being finalized by the Public ministry It is deciding whether to also accuse Javier Enríquez and whether to include the crime of documentary falsification.
During the interrogations and the investigation, the Prosecutor’s Office has focused both on the cash withdrawals carried out by the vice president of Technical Committee of Referees until 2018 as well as in the documentation that FC Barcelona and its directors could provide on the arbitration reports for which they were paid to negreira. However, Josep Maria Bartomeu and its managers have not had access to the documentation that they kept on their computer equipment.
The personal computer of the president of FC Barcelona was confiscated by the Mossos d’Esquadra during the police operation in the case of barçagate at the club offices on March 1, 2021. Therefore, two years have passed since then, however, the team has not yet been returned to Bartomeu.
[Así amenazó Negreira a la Federación de Fútbol: “Me obliga inexorablemente a tomar otros derroteros”]
Josep Maria Bartomeu’s lawyer has asked the judge on several occasions for the final report and access to the computers, however, it has always been denied to date. Despite the fact that documents from FC Barcelona and the former president have been published in the media, the defense has not been able to count on this information.
The equipment information
The computer equipment of bartomeu and its directors are now also important, since the prosecution has requested documentation proving the existence of arbitration reports of Enriquez Negreira and his son, and that they also demonstrate the type of commercial relationship that existed between the FC Barcelona and the companies Dasnil 95 SL and Nilsad.
Therefore, Bartomeu does not have in his possession any of the documents that his defense needs and he does not have access to the club as it is now chaired by Joan Laporta. The seized computers remain in the possession of the Mossos d’Esquadra and they are a key element both to demonstrate that the commercial relationship was legal and to prove that the crimes of corruption in business and unfair administration had been committed.
[Negreira trató de fundar un “lobby arbitral” tras ser despedido de la RFEF para poder seguir facturando]
The information contained in the computers is important both for the Prosecutor’s Office and for the legitimate defense of FC Barcelona, Bartomeu and its managers. Much of the truth about the club’s relationship with Enríquez Negreira is found in those computer equipment.
The ‘Negreira case’ began with an investigation by the Tax agency and it has already become the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish sports. FC Barcelona paid at least since 2001 and until 2018 without interruption to number two of the referees. Enríquez Negreira invoiced almost 7 million euros to the club for arbitration reports.
[La Fiscalía llamará a declarar a Laporta, Rosell y Gaspart como testigos por el ‘caso Negreira’]
After concluding the investigation, the Prosecutor’s Office will make the formal accusation in the next few days and then the judicial process of the ‘Negreira case’ will begin. It will be then when it is known what information has been collected after the investigations and what documentation exists on the relationship between the vice-president of the referees and FC Barcelona.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office plans to call all the presidents of the club since 2001, including the current Joan Laporta. The investigation began in February 2022 and, after being extended, it came to an end this March once the scandal broke publicly.
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