Testimony of Negreira’s son revealed in corruption case against Barcelona

The son of former Referees Committee (CTA) Vice-President Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira testified in the corruption and fraud cases against Barcelona and his father on Thursday. In a case that could define Spanish football in the coming decades, there has already been dispute about what Javier Enriquez Romero said while giving evidence.

Barcelona stand accused of sporting corruption, after the tax office raised the alarm following €7.5m in payments to companies owned by Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018, when he left his position at the CTA. The Blaugrana have defended their innocence, and claimed the payments were for reports on referee performances.

Enriquez Romero, who admitted to authoring around 600 refereeing reports for Barcelona, was listed as an Administrator in his father’s companies, which billed Barcelona for said reports. However Romero claims he did not perform that role. El Espanol have obtained his testimony.

“I wasn’t in charge of the management of that entity, which was the exclusive responsibility of my father. I haven’t received any money from that entity, and I wasn’t aware that it billed millions of euros to Futbol Club Barcelona.”

“I had no role in that company. Starting in 2000, the first jobs I did consisted of some videos they made for the CTA and its technical director Manuel Diaz Vega. I billed these videos to through Dasnil 95 after my father insisted that I do so.”

Romero explained that he submitted his reports to former Barcelona Director Josep Carreras, now deceased, who in turn submitted them to Barcelona earning a commission.

“I never contacted or had any relationship with Futbol Club Barcelona due to my relationships with Dasnil 95, Nilsad, and Tresep. I wasn’t aware Futbol Club Barcelona’s relationship with Dasnil 95 and Nilsad. When I saw it [the figures paid by Barcelona], I couldn’t believe it. It was a lie. My conclusion is that FC Barcelona sought to distance itself from my father, Enriquez Negreira, using me as a pretext.”

However he rejected the idea that Barcelona ended their relationship with his father due to the latter leaing the CTA.

“I believe that the termination of my employment relationship with FC Barcelona had nothing to do with my father’s dismissal as vice president of the CTA.”

However Romero did sew seeds of ambiguity by saying that the money paid by Barcelona did not correspond to his reports on referees, without giving any more detail. The Blaugrana’s defence centres on the contrary.

“The €7.5m that appear in the figures of the Tax Agency, in some sense, have nothing to do with my reports.”

“When I found out about my father’s relationship with FC Barcelona, I asked for an explanation. My father gave me the runaround and told me it was none of my business. I love my father and I’ve forgiven him and accepted everything that happened, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t an authoritarian and aggressive person.”

“The exact words he said to me were: ‘What the f*** do you care?’ This is what he said when he got defensive.”

In terms of his own role, in receiving fees or influencing any officials, Romero denied any wrongdoing.

“[The fees I received were] Comparable to the fee I received for my work with the national team, Valencia, or Fenerbahce, which was between €70k and €100k per year without exclusivity. I have offered referee analysis services to other clubs and players,” but “I have never tried to influence any referee.”

So far the two headline names to give evidence beyond Romero are former Barcelona Presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu. The former exclaimed that there was no way Barcelona could have bought any influence with around €250 per refereeing report, while the latter said that a number of theories had been debunked regarding Barcelona’s relationship with Enriquez Negreira.