Barcelona president Joan Laporta has insisted his club are innocent in their referee payment scandal.
Spain’s public prosecutor has accused the club of maintaining a relationship with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira which would see him carry out actions that would ‘lead to Barcelona being favoured in the decision making of the referees’ in exchange for money’
The prosecution says €7.3million (£6.46m) was paid by the club to DASNIL and NILSAT, two companies owned by Negreira.
The club are being investigated by both UEFA and Spanish authorities over the allegations. Barcelona, meanwhile, insist they received referee scouting reports in return.
Laporta has insisted that the club are innocent, leading the fights against the allegations to clear his club’s name.
‘They have nothing because there is nothing,’ he said. ‘What they have done is magnify a situation in which one of the people who was linked to these companies was a former referee and a former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees.
‘He had no capacity to alter the results of any match because he did not designate the referees.’
The club could face huge financial penalties, and Negreira, former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu, and former directors Oscar Grau and Albert Soler could face up to four years in jail.
Courts will now decide whether there is sufficient evidence to prove that Negreira used money paid to him by Barcelona to influence matches in the club’s favour.
Laporta has denied the allegations since they surfaced, insisting the club have ‘never bought referees', though former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell are also facing charges.
But the problems signpost the latest issue in Barca’s turbulent few years, which has seen extreme financial problems and the club willing to sacrifice future money to succeed now.
The current controversy first hit Barcelona last month when an investigation into a firm owned by Negreira revealed a £1.2m payment from the club, during a two-year period until 2018 for ‘technical advice on referees’.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo subsequently reported that payments from Barcelona to Negreira’s company date back to 2001, a period of time that includes Laporta’s first spell as club president. He will now have to give evidence to investigators.