FC Barcelona was quick to react following the information published this Wednesday in relation to the now famous Negreira affair. Earlier today it was reported that judge Joaquín Aguirre criticized Joan Laporta for trying to accuse former club presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Batromeu of making regular payments to the former vice-president of the Technical Commission of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, thus avoiding being indicted in turn when he would have carried out the same practices during his first mandates between 2003 and 2010. Barça would have resorted to this practice for 18 years. Faced with this new development, Barça did not hesitate to publish a press release in which it defended itself, even though Laporta is not currently targeted.
“Following the information published today on the interlocutory of Court No. 1, FC Barcelona would like to point out that this is an accusation for individuals within the framework of the open procedure of the famous Negreira Case in order to defend the entity from a potential crime of unfair administration during the period studied. This appearance could have taken place at any time during the investigation of the case, but the club preferred to do so from the start to position itself on the payment to third parties, given the entity’s conviction that the crime of corruption sport did not exist. Barça once again affirms that it had technical consultancy services for referees and players for years, and that it had documents proving its existence and reality. All this material intended to improve the preparation of matches of professional football teams was paid for in the form of invoices paid to the company providing the services and the part of the material retained was recently handed over to the Court which is conducting the investigation. Under the leadership of President Laporta, payments were always made to the company that, at any time, was responsible for this function, and never to third parties or companies. We regret that the order notified yesterday contains opinions and value judgments calling into question the ethics of President Joan Laporta when:
1) the person who appeared in the proceedings and is being investigated is FC Barcelona – not its current president.
2) it is the Club which has the right of defense in the procedure.
3) if applicable, the Club could also be harmed.
It should also be remembered that the case is in the investigation phase and that the personal judgments included in the file have only generated a state of confusion in public and published opinion which, surely unintentionally, has caused serious damage to the image of the club and its president. In any case, the Club, led by its president, will continue to defend the legitimate interests of the institution through the lawyers who make up the legal direction of this procedure.»
