FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has three years left in his term, but it is possible that it could be ended prematurely by legal means.
Laporta is due to stand trial alongside former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as the club itself, over payments made to former referees committee vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
According to Marca, the magistrate of the court organizing the investigation into the payments decided that the statute of limitations should be applied from the last payment made to Negreira. This means that Laporta is also implicated in the affair and is now accused of corruption alongside his former colleagues.
The statute of limitations is set at 10 years for corruption crimes, which date back to 2023, when the case was opened, and which concern the presidents of FC Barcelona involved in the payment of Negreira between 2013 and 2018 (date at which payments ceased). However, Magistrate Joaquin Aguirre ruled that the statute of limitations dates back to when the last payments were made.
This case dates back to 2008 and is believed to involve Laporta for the final two years of his first Barcelona tenure, before Rosell took over in 2010.
So far, Laporta has denied any wrongdoing by the club regarding corruption, calling it a campaign against Barcelona. The club says it is cooperating with the prosecutor in this matter.
