Barcelona charged with corruption over $6.9m referee payments
Barcelona had been charged by Spanish prosecutors with corruption over payments the club made to a former refereeing chief’s company.
Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, two of the club’s former presidents, and the ex-refereeing chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira are facing the same charge.
The charge 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.
Fuethermore, the charges come just days after current Barca boss Joan Laporta insisted his club had never “bought referees.”
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
Reports has it that the Catalan side allegedly paid 6.5 million euros ($6.9 million) between 2001and 2018 to Negreira’s firm.
