Barca charged with corruption over £7.4m payment to former referees' official

Barcelona have been charged with corruption regarding payments made to a former referees' official.

As reported by BBC Sport, the payments were made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee.

At a court in Barcelona on Friday it was stated that Barcelona have been indicted for corruption, a breach of trust and false business records, with former club officials and Negreira himself also being indicted.

Between 2001 and 2018 Barcelona reportedly paid Negreira and a company he owns £7.4million.

As well as the club itself, former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell are also being targeted by the lawsuit, which is being brought by the Barcelona public prosecutor's office.

Last month LaLiga chief executive Javier Tebas called for current Barcelona president Joan Laporta to resign if he cannot explain the payments.

Laporta insisted that he will not step down and also claimed that Barcelona had never bought referees.

Barcelona manager Xavi stated last month that he had no knowledge of the payments.

Xavi said: 'I always wanted to win, but fairly. If I thought we were cheating I'd have gone home.'

The payments emerged after tax authorities investigated Negreira's company Dasnil 95.

Between 2016 and 2018 Barcelona made payments to the company totalling £1.2million, while between 2001 and 2018 they paid Negreira about £6.2million.