Ex-police chief alleges Caso Negreira was dropped due to Real Madrid involvement

Former undercover policeman Jose Manuel Villarejo has accused Real Madrid of being involved in ‘Caso Negreira‘, claiming that the Spanish Government knew about the case over a decade ago.

Villarejo, who himself has been accused of a number of crimes himself including money laundering, espionage and involvement in criminal activity, claims that he became aware of ‘the buying of referees’ in 2012. On two occasions, the later in 2014, he communicated this to the government at the time, but the case was not pursued.

He admitted to spying on former Barcelona President Sandro Rosell, and the Board of Directors at Barcelona, as part of his mission to spy on, and create false evidence in smear campaigns against pro-independence Catalan political factions. Cronica Libre had access to some of his testimony.

“There are two informative notes of mine, two intelligence notes that we are going to see. One is from more or less the end of 2012 and another from 2014, where I state that it is a football issue, I even mention some trouble with referees and such, but as I had previously said that Real Madrid were also involved, apparently, someone was not interested in continuing in that line [of investigation].”

The espionage operation, carried out on various Catalan figures, was allegedly mounted by the sitting government at the time, the right-wing Partido Popular. Real Madrid President Florentino Perez has close links to the party, and has been seen associating with various members of the party over the years.

Whether Villarejo’s testament is true or not, remains to be proven. He has been accused of deception in the past, but equally is responsible for uncovering a number of scandals. As this is a leaked tape of his testimony, it is not yet clear whether these comments will go any further.