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Barcelona president Joan Laporta has explained the club's role in the Negreira bribery scandal
Barcelona President Joan Laporta has defended the club from accusations of corruption regarding the Caso Negreira, officially facing the media for the first time since news about the case broke.
Laporta explains Barcelona’s Negreira saga to reporters
Barcelona is currently facing legal proceedings in Spain concerning payments made to a company owned by former refereeing chief Enrique Negreira between 2001 and 2018 that totalled more than €7 million.
The Catalan club have been accused of continued corruption in sport after Spanish prosecutors claimed that they were making the payments to get favours from LaLiga referees under Negreira’s reign as vice-president of the referees’ body, but Barcelona have continued to deny these allegations, with Laporta finally facing media scrutiny on Monday.
During the press conference, Laporta explained that Barcelona had made the payments to get insights on refereeing behaviours among officials in LaLiga.
Laporta says there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Barcelona
Laporta defended Barcelona against accusations of referee buying, saying that the club has never tried to influence decisions on the pitch to favour them, noting that nobody had been able to prove otherwise.
He said, “Barcelona have never undertaken any operation with any intention or objective to influence the sporting outcome.”
“The Public Prosecutor has been unable to demonstrate this at any point.”
Laporta explained that all the business done with Negreira’s company was above board and was properly documented, indicating exactly what the money being paid was meant for.
“Barcelona have contracted out technical and refereeing consultancy, which in of itself is not an issue.” Laporta said, adding, “This is something many big clubs do and is important.”
“We made these payments with invoices, bank payments and for specific activities.”
Laporta also noted that the club’s internal investigations also found no cases of bribery and presented reports containing further information about Barcelona’s dealings with Negreira and his son.
Presenting the reports, Laporta said, “This is no evidence of bribery or of attempts to influence sporting outcomes.”
“There is evidence of the services of the technical refereeing consultancy. Here are the reports – 629 of them (2014-18), that have been found by compliance,”
The Cules have continued to maintain innocence, but the press conference is unlikely to affect the legal proceedings against the club.
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