Official: FC Barcelona charged with Corruption over payments to former referees chief | UEFA open investigation

[Niemans]

https://www.epe.es/es/deportes/20230410/caso-negreira-sobresueldos-directivos-barca-85677698

The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives

The progress of the investigation dilutes the initial suspicions that the azulgrana club may have bought referees, in favor of the theory that part of the millionaire payments went back to people at the club.

On February 21, a month and a half ago, Joan Laporta broke his silence on the Negreira case, uncovered six days earlier by Cadena Ser. That day, at the Camp Nou, he announced two things: an external investigation and an explanatory press conference on his part. The first of these initiatives is underway. It is assumed. There is still no news on the second, despite the fact that the case has advanced to the point that a Barcelona court has accepted the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

During all these weeks, in which multiple details of the relationship between Barça and Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018 have been known, Laporta has encouraged victimhood and an alleged conspiracy against the club. All this from a sentence that he has turned into the motto of his defense before the public opinion: "Barça has never bought referees".

Proven facts of the Negreira case
It happens, in fact, that the fact that he denies, which at the beginning seemed white and in bottle, is losing followers even in his staunchest enemies. It is evident (because it is proven) that Negreira received money from Barça, that a large part of the services he allegedly provided in exchange (advice and refereeing reports) lack documentary support and that the supplier was in those years vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the RFEF. But the thesis that the money, or part of it, ended up in the pockets of some referees to favor Barça on the field of play is losing strength.

Firstly, because, despite the social pressure to which the collective has been subjected, not a single one of the dozens of First Division referees in those almost two decades has suggested that this practice could exist. Neither by giving their name and surname to a confession nor by doing it anonymously. So far, not a single journalist following the case (and there are a lot of them) has published any information pointing in that direction. And there is not one who has not looked for it. Nor has the Treasury found any evidence in this regard.

The denunciation of Estrada Fernández
Only Xavier Estrada Fernández, Catalan and, therefore, never referee of a Barça match, has broken the unity of the group and it has been, precisely, to denounce Enríquez Negreira in court. His figure and his role in the case continues to generate controversy. The CTA is silent, so is he, and around him theories about who is behind his movement, if there is anyone. There are those who see Barça's hand behind the referee, but it is only a conjecture. Like the one that says he wants to take revenge on the CTA and the RFEF because he knew they would not renew his contract for next season. Then, however, he will be a councilor of the city council of Lleida for ERC if the May elections do not say otherwise.

Nor does it sit well with observers directly concerned with the case that there is a large referee scheme. In a League of 38 referees, they claim, a club would have to buy a large number of referees to ensure a behavior that would be meditatively beneficial to its interests. And maintaining this 'omertà' for so many years borders on the impossible.

Negreira's role in the CTA
And it cannot be overlooked that those who participated in those years in the refereeing profession emphasize that Negreira's role was residual, that he neither participated in the assignment of the referees nor decided on promotions and relegations, since he limited himself only to inform about them to the affected ones. And although this version generates doubts, it is clear that Negreira was a second-rate figure in the refereeing government.

So why did Barça, with four different presidents (Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu) pay at least 7.2 million euros to Negreira? The thesis that is gaining more strength in recent days, from the analysis of the documentation that the Prosecutor's Office made available to the court, is that the former vice president of the CTA was a vehicle for Barça executives to collect, indirectly from the coffers of the club itself, bonuses in black money. Executives who, by statute, cannot receive a salary from the Barça entity.

The Tax Agency itself, in the report that it transferred to the Prosecutor's Office (and this, in turn, to the judge) already reflected that Negreira withdrew in cash 28% of the money he received from Barça between 2016 and 2018, the period initially investigated. An amount that amounts to 557,871 euros in those years and that the Treasury believes could have been destined to third parties linked to Barcelona, as reported by El Periódico de Cataluña, of the Prensa Ibérica group.

The role of Josep Contreras
The role of the late executive Josep Contreras, intermediary and commissioner of the agreements between Barça and Negreira, reinforces this theory. According to this thesis, outlined by the Treasury in its report, the money that came out of Barça's coffers would be shared between him, the former referee and, possibly, those third parties linked to the club. Some of Barça's main detractors are convinced that this was the case.

A priori, this possibility has two weaknesses. A refereeing official seems to be the least suitable person in the world to act as a vehicle to collect a salary in 'b', because in addition to the crimes of this practice, one can easily add the crime of sports corruption, as is happening. If the front man had been someone else, Barça's participation in the next Champions League would not be at risk right now.

The termination of the agreement with Negreira in 2018.
But Negreira could indeed have served as an alibi to justify the amount of those payments internally. "Barça wanted to make sure that no decisions were made against the club, that everything was neutral," he told the Treasury. That would also serve to explain the second weak point of the theory of the overpayments: the suspension of the agreement in 2018. Because if Negreira was no longer vice president of the CTA (Rubiales dismissed him as soon as he became president of the RFEF), paying him to "make everything neutral" ceased to serve as an internal alibi at Barça.

The work of the Guardia Civil, to whom the judge has entrusted the investigation, is now to find proof and evidence to fit the puzzle to discover if, as Laporta and also many of his enemies defend, "Barça has never bought referees". And if any of the directors of those 17 years ended up keeping part of the money that Barça paid to Negreira for reasons that the club has not wanted to talk about.

Maybe in a press conference. One of these months.

"The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives".

This scenario is very plausible. I'm curious about Laporta's explanation of why he multiplied the payments by 3-4.
I wouldn't be surprised if Laporta kept some of that money. Already in the first epoch he made sinister operations.

 

[Camara]

"The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives".

This scenario is very plausible. I'm curious about Laporta's explanation of why he multiplied the payments by 3-4.
I wouldn't be surprised if Laporta kept some of that money. Already in the first epoch he made sinister operations.

Why would barça executives need to involve the Ref VP in order to get their "offside" bonuses?
It seems to me plausible that they got some money by these operations but why involve the Ref VP in the first place? They could have just created shady offshore accounts and create a fake contract with them (ref studies?).

 

[Mb194dc]

Why would barça executives need to involve the Ref VP in order to get their "offside" bonuses?
It seems to me plausible that they got some money by these operations but why involve the Ref VP in the first place? They could have just created shady offshore accounts and create a fake contract with them (ref studies?).

Well exactly. Pretty clear campaign of BS here when the simplest and most likely explanation is the obvious one...

 

[FreckBarca]

Also, if that was the case they wouldn't stop paying him when Negreira stopped being the ref VP.
Also quite unlikely that 4 differents Barca boards were up to steal from the club while obviously harming greatly the club's reputation.

It makes way too little sense

 

[Monks_United]

Yea this doesn't make any sense so we should call BS on this one. I mean, why would you want to funnel money back to the executives via the VP of the refs, unless you're the stupidest embezzler in the world. You could do it via an event management company, a construction company, an ad agency etc etc. So either we believe that Barca has had the misfortune of being led by some of the worst embezzlers in the world or this is just an attempt to shift narrative from the more obvious conclusion here. I would go with the latter as the more likely scenario here.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I'm not wrong as I proved. You lied plain and straight even in the minimum details. I'm not going to repost but it is there. It is obvious and only your hate and pride prevents you from recognizing it. And since this is an echo chamber with default hate you will be fine.

You didn't prove anything. You lied about everything including how correct I was. Please do repost though so everyone can see again how incorrect you are

 

[RG77]

“The thesis gaining ground…”

Among who? First it was about actual reports, then it was because they are so corrupt Barca had to pay for a level playing field and ‘neutrality’, now it is something else entirely and all about funneling money away from Barca…by paying the VP and stopping that once he no longer held the position.

This is just another attempt trying to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Very Trumpian.

 

[MVBDX]

The club is the victim, clearly.

It's all on a couple of executives and board members, a few presidents, the VP of refs, his son, and maybe a dozen more. But it's not on the club.

 

[NLunited]

Can we please ban these trolls? Sure, Barça hired Negreira vice-boss of referees to move money to Barça executives while pretending the payments were for referee payoffs. Negreiro‘s son was driving the refs to the game to make it more convincing.

CampNou if you are not getting paid, son you are being taken advantage of.

 

[CampNou]

"The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives".

This scenario is very plausible. I'm curious about Laporta's explanation of why he multiplied the payments by 3-4.
I wouldn't be surprised if Laporta kept some of that money. Already in the first epoch he made sinister operations.

He is still probably thinking about it. No matter what they did they are in a very short leash and they will need to recognize some kind of illegal activity.
There was supposed to be a press event soon but i guess it is delayed (LaLiga should talk about this on 19th).

Well exactly. Pretty clear campaign of BS here when the simplest and most likely explanation is the obvious one...

I like your "simplest and most likely explanation" when you compare Abramovich and russian citizens to the jews in the nazi germany. That is pretty clear too
It is absolutely amazing to read this kind of message of a long stand die hard abramovich propagandist.

I'm glad you see it "pretty clear", I would actually be very worried if you were defending the opposite.

You didn't prove anything. You lied about everything including how correct I was. Please do repost though so everyone can see again how incorrect you are

Everybody can see that you are lying in my previous messages. Of course you didn't address anything. You lie in every little detail, and when shown to you, you still say that you are true. Of course you provide NOTHING.

But anyway, anything as simple as affirming that "2 names were written but no last names" when the document includes like 10 people, some using the name, some using the last name. You don't even accept that detail, you repeat that you were right over and over again. You don't even know to differentiate a name from a last name and worse, you don't even know to count.

But to me, the funniest part of your character, is your continuous use of words like "cult" and others like that and considering Barca fanbase as the very worst of the history of everything. You are not so harsh on fanbases, that I don't know, vastly defend a russian criminal when people were already being slaughtered in Ukraine. Actually in those threads you call for "arguments" and run from that kind of message. It could be better if you had a civilized approach to this topic. I know you can because you did when people were defending that russians are like jews in the nazi germany.

“The thesis gaining ground…”

Among who? First it was about actual reports, then it was because they are so corrupt Barca had to pay for a level playing field and ‘neutrality’, now it is something else entirely and all about funneling money away from Barca…by paying the VP and stopping that once he no longer held the position.

This is just another attempt trying to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Very Trumpian.

Ask the source.

The source is actually one of the sources @FreckBarca used a few days ago. I guess the source was fantastic 3 days ago but not today.

That is not what the article says anyway and that is far from the concatenation of events. And those are possible explanations provided by different parties so mixing them like they are a evolution of the same people simple makes no sense.

And well, that is the most classical corruption scheme ever. You have a current example in the guardia civil scandal. Many projects were hired and paid and just a little % was done and those were poorly done. It is actually THE corruption scheme. It is impossible to find a more typical approach for a corruption scheme.

Can we please ban these trolls? Sure, Barça hired Negreira vice-boss of referees to move money to Barça executives while pretending the payments were for referee payoffs. Negreiro‘s son was driving the refs to the game to make it more convincing.

CampNou if you are not getting paid, son you are being taken advantage of.

Rules to remember: no adult images or videos; mind your language; criticise the post not the poster; remain respectful to other posters.

Will you ever write a message without directly insulting the posters? It is worrying that you are not able to understand a simple post in your mother tongue language. Because if that is what you really understood from the article... then... well... yes, you have a problem.

It's very sad that you forgot that I'm a russian troll. Or maybe you understood that those russian trolls wear a blue shirt and I even cited one in this very post.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Everybody can see that you are lying in my previous messages. Of course you didn't address anything. You lie in every little detail, and when shown to you, you still say that you are true. Of course you provide NOTHING.

But anyway, anything as simple as affirming that "2 names were written but no last names" when the document includes like 10 people, some using the name, some using the last name. You don't even accept that detail, you repeat that you were right over and over again. You don't even know to differentiate a name from a last name and worse, you don't even know to count.

But to me, the funniest part of your character, is your continuous use of words like "cult" and others like that and considering Barca fanbase as the very worst of the history of everything. You are not so harsh on fanbases, that I don't know, vastly defend a russian criminal when people were already being slaughtered in Ukraine. Actually in those threads you call for "arguments" and run from that kind of message. It could be better if you had a civilized approach to this topic. I know you can because you did when people were defending that russians are like jews in the nazi germany.

Wow, looks like the tea served in your cult meeting was very strong this evening. Sorry to report though that you are still wrong and everything I said was correct, and also you have posted no actual proof whatsoever.

It must be so hard being such a noble Barca cultist. I can only imagine the struggles you and the rest of your cult are suffering during the course of your cultish crusade to be factually incorrect about everything - but as you quite rightly allude to it's definitely analogous to the genocide suffered by the Jewish people by the Nazis. Very clever approach to discussion as well, every cult knows that invoking Nazis is inevitably a winning strategy to demonstrate the superiority of your genetics / argument.

 

[Don't Kill Bill]

https://www.epe.es/es/deportes/20230410/caso-negreira-sobresueldos-directivos-barca-85677698

The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives

The progress of the investigation dilutes the initial suspicions that the azulgrana club may have bought referees, in favor of the theory that part of the millionaire payments went back to people at the club.

On February 21, a month and a half ago, Joan Laporta broke his silence on the Negreira case, uncovered six days earlier by Cadena Ser. That day, at the Camp Nou, he announced two things: an external investigation and an explanatory press conference on his part. The first of these initiatives is underway. It is assumed. There is still no news on the second, despite the fact that the case has advanced to the point that a Barcelona court has accepted the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

During all these weeks, in which multiple details of the relationship between Barça and Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018 have been known, Laporta has encouraged victimhood and an alleged conspiracy against the club. All this from a sentence that he has turned into the motto of his defense before the public opinion: "Barça has never bought referees".

Proven facts of the Negreira case
It happens, in fact, that the fact that he denies, which at the beginning seemed white and in bottle, is losing followers even in his staunchest enemies. It is evident (because it is proven) that Negreira received money from Barça, that a large part of the services he allegedly provided in exchange (advice and refereeing reports) lack documentary support and that the supplier was in those years vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the RFEF. But the thesis that the money, or part of it, ended up in the pockets of some referees to favor Barça on the field of play is losing strength.

Firstly, because, despite the social pressure to which the collective has been subjected, not a single one of the dozens of First Division referees in those almost two decades has suggested that this practice could exist. Neither by giving their name and surname to a confession nor by doing it anonymously. So far, not a single journalist following the case (and there are a lot of them) has published any information pointing in that direction. And there is not one who has not looked for it. Nor has the Treasury found any evidence in this regard.

The denunciation of Estrada Fernández
Only Xavier Estrada Fernández, Catalan and, therefore, never referee of a Barça match, has broken the unity of the group and it has been, precisely, to denounce Enríquez Negreira in court. His figure and his role in the case continues to generate controversy. The CTA is silent, so is he, and around him theories about who is behind his movement, if there is anyone. There are those who see Barça's hand behind the referee, but it is only a conjecture. Like the one that says he wants to take revenge on the CTA and the RFEF because he knew they would not renew his contract for next season. Then, however, he will be a councilor of the city council of Lleida for ERC if the May elections do not say otherwise.

Nor does it sit well with observers directly concerned with the case that there is a large referee scheme. In a League of 38 referees, they claim, a club would have to buy a large number of referees to ensure a behavior that would be meditatively beneficial to its interests. And maintaining this 'omertà' for so many years borders on the impossible.

Negreira's role in the CTA
And it cannot be overlooked that those who participated in those years in the refereeing profession emphasize that Negreira's role was residual, that he neither participated in the assignment of the referees nor decided on promotions and relegations, since he limited himself only to inform about them to the affected ones. And although this version generates doubts, it is clear that Negreira was a second-rate figure in the refereeing government.

So why did Barça, with four different presidents (Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu) pay at least 7.2 million euros to Negreira? The thesis that is gaining more strength in recent days, from the analysis of the documentation that the Prosecutor's Office made available to the court, is that the former vice president of the CTA was a vehicle for Barça executives to collect, indirectly from the coffers of the club itself, bonuses in black money. Executives who, by statute, cannot receive a salary from the Barça entity.

The Tax Agency itself, in the report that it transferred to the Prosecutor's Office (and this, in turn, to the judge) already reflected that Negreira withdrew in cash 28% of the money he received from Barça between 2016 and 2018, the period initially investigated. An amount that amounts to 557,871 euros in those years and that the Treasury believes could have been destined to third parties linked to Barcelona, as reported by El Periódico de Cataluña, of the Prensa Ibérica group.

The role of Josep Contreras
The role of the late executive Josep Contreras, intermediary and commissioner of the agreements between Barça and Negreira, reinforces this theory. According to this thesis, outlined by the Treasury in its report, the money that came out of Barça's coffers would be shared between him, the former referee and, possibly, those third parties linked to the club. Some of Barça's main detractors are convinced that this was the case.

A priori, this possibility has two weaknesses. A refereeing official seems to be the least suitable person in the world to act as a vehicle to collect a salary in 'b', because in addition to the crimes of this practice, one can easily add the crime of sports corruption, as is happening. If the front man had been someone else, Barça's participation in the next Champions League would not be at risk right now.

The termination of the agreement with Negreira in 2018.
But Negreira could indeed have served as an alibi to justify the amount of those payments internally. "Barça wanted to make sure that no decisions were made against the club, that everything was neutral," he told the Treasury. That would also serve to explain the second weak point of the theory of the overpayments: the suspension of the agreement in 2018. Because if Negreira was no longer vice president of the CTA (Rubiales dismissed him as soon as he became president of the RFEF), paying him to "make everything neutral" ceased to serve as an internal alibi at Barça.

The work of the Guardia Civil, to whom the judge has entrusted the investigation, is now to find proof and evidence to fit the puzzle to discover if, as Laporta and also many of his enemies defend, "Barça has never bought referees". And if any of the directors of those 17 years ended up keeping part of the money that Barça paid to Negreira for reasons that the club has not wanted to talk about.

Maybe in a press conference. One of these months.

Think about what you are saying here.

Would the Barca executives who were paying the Vice President of the refs organization take a portion of the bribe money they paid for themselves? Absolutely they could have. They are scum bags and any scum bag who wants to buy referees would be scum bag enough to take a share of the bribe. If they are doing that, it proves a close and illicit financial relationship between Barca and the referees organizations Vice President and his son.

More simply, at this point you are trying to prove your innocence by admitting your guilt. Its irredeemable and unpersuasive nonsense.

The only things which should be left white in a bottle here are the pickled testicles of the idiots defending this blatant and obvious corruption.

 

[Member 125398]

The Russians and the Nazis have entered the field

 

[Krakenzero]

"The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives".

This scenario is very plausible. I'm curious about Laporta's explanation of why he multiplied the payments by 3-4.
I wouldn't be surprised if Laporta kept some of that money. Already in the first epoch he made sinister operations.

The very same article seems to discard it, since if they were bonus payments, A) a serving VP of referees would be the worst possible option for these kind of payments as it adds to the bribe angle, and B) said payments stopped in 2018 when Negreira stopped being the VP. Plus, of course, 4 different directories allowed this practice, making it a club practice.

 

[CampNou]

Wow, looks like the tea served in your cult meeting was very strong this evening. Sorry to report though that you are still wrong and everything I said was correct, and also you have posted no actual proof whatsoever.

It must be so hard being such a noble Barca cultist. I can only imagine the struggles you and the rest of your cult are suffering during the course of your cultish crusade to be factually incorrect about everything - but as you quite rightly allude to it's definitely analogous to the genocide suffered by the Jewish people by the Nazis. Very clever approach to discussion as well, every cult knows that invoking Nazis is inevitably a winning strategy to demonstrate the superiority of your genetics / argument.

The proof is the document itself, which is public, but I will post it because let's face it. Most of the people that posts like you without giving any evidence haven't seen any.

I'm sorry about you, being surrounded by Wagnerites who think russian citizens are like jews in Germany, it has to be difficult. I'm not invoking the nazis, I'm actually citing messages from a person I'm directly citing. I find funny to say that russians are like jewish in nazi germany and at the same time to see everything "pretty clear" here.

What approach if you only approach is insulting while lying? I've always documented my arguments. It is you and your "friends" with 0 critical thinking that come here just to bash without any argument. When you do it for the 10th time I just show your hipocrisy. Then you are not happy... well... what did you expect?




But yeah, look at this document with 2 (TWO) names BUT NO LAST NAMES as you said over and over again.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

When the feck did Nazi Germany join this conversation? I'm guessing the smug Barca dipshits are the ones that started it.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

The proof is the document itself, which is public, but I will post it because let's face it. Most of the people that posts like you without giving any evidence haven't seen any.

I'm sorry about you, being surrounded by Wagnerites who think russian citizens are like jews in Germany, it has to be difficult. I'm not invoking the nazis, I'm actually citing messages from a person I'm directly citing. I find funny to say that russians are like jewish in nazi germany and at the same time to see everything "pretty clear" here.

What approach if you only approach is insulting while lying? I've always documented my arguments. It is you and your "friends" with 0 critical thinking that come here just to bash without any argument. When you do it for the 10th time I just show your hipocrisy. Then you are not happy... well... what did you expect?

But yeah, look at this document with 2 (TWO) names BUT NO LAST NAMES as you said over and over again.

Sorry but you are still wrong. I literally said that there were no surnames on it and obviously I am correct. That thing looks sketchy as feck - if I were investigating a criminal football club that now apparently has something to do with Nazis I'd definitely submit that note into evidence to be evaluated.

Keep fighting the good fight though, I'm proud of you for winning the best cult boy prize for most Kool-Aid drunk!

It's really great that you're not invoking Nazis out of nowhere in this post like you did in your previous one, since there's absolutely NO REASON to bring up Nazis with respect to FC BARCELONA at all

 

[CampNou]

Sorry but you are still wrong. I literally said that there were no surnames on it and obviously I am correct. That thing looks sketchy as feck - if I were investigating a criminal football club that now apparently has something to do with Nazis I'd definitely submit that note into evidence to be evaluated.

Keep fighting the good fight though, I'm proud of you for winning the best cult boy prize for most Kool-Aid drunk!

It's really great that you're not invoking Nazis out of nowhere in this post like you did in your previous one, since there's absolutely NO REASON to bring up Nazis with respect to FC BARCELONA at all

I just said that I'm GRATEFUL that a person that consider russians as the new nazi jews, sees all this PRETTY CLEAR. And that I find funny that you don't consider that kind of behavior a "cult". I know, in terms of devils, Negreria >>>> Abramovich and Barca >>>> Russia. Your vocabulary is pretty clear regarding these comparatives and the way you want to treat the information

Roman: name
Julio Molinario?: name + surname
Jose Luis Marco Seu: name + 2 surnames
Sr. Rosell: surname
Sr. Micanor: surname
Antoni Vidal: name + surname
josep maria: name
Antoni Vidal: name + surname (repeated)
Sr. Gimenez Zapalna: 2 surnames
E. Granados: name initial + surname
Apaslegui: surname

So, 10 people mentioned (1 repeated), 8 of them include the surname, 5 the name.

But...

I literally said that there were no surnames on it and obviously I am correct.

So yeah... only EIGHT surnames.

A document from the 80s from an unrelated case (the mentioned banks in the document closed in the 80s/90s) and it is suspicious that "josep maria" (one of the most common names in catalonia) and "rosell" (a very common last name) in a list of 10 people are misteriously future presidents of Barca... 30 years after that... while they were at the university!!!

It was obvious that it had nothing to do with those Barca presidents (and another worker, Roman), it was just presented by Tebas to make noise. There are documents of the conquest of America that will include some josep maria too, probably bartomeu

Now that i think so... i know another Roman from the list... aren't you sure Abramovich wasn't involved in the 80s with Bartomeu in some shady stuff? we should let the prosecutors know!!!

 

[Niemans]

https://www.epe.es/es/deportes/20230410/caso-negreira-sobresueldos-directivos-barca-85677698

The thesis gaining ground in the Negreira case: money to pay bonuses to Barça executives

The progress of the investigation dilutes the initial suspicions that the azulgrana club may have bought referees, in favor of the theory that part of the millionaire payments went back to people at the club.

On February 21, a month and a half ago, Joan Laporta broke his silence on the Negreira case, uncovered six days earlier by Cadena Ser. That day, at the Camp Nou, he announced two things: an external investigation and an explanatory press conference on his part. The first of these initiatives is underway. It is assumed. There is still no news on the second, despite the fact that the case has advanced to the point that a Barcelona court has accepted the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

During all these weeks, in which multiple details of the relationship between Barça and Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018 have been known, Laporta has encouraged victimhood and an alleged conspiracy against the club. All this from a sentence that he has turned into the motto of his defense before the public opinion: "Barça has never bought referees".

Proven facts of the Negreira case
It happens, in fact, that the fact that he denies, which at the beginning seemed white and in bottle, is losing followers even in his staunchest enemies. It is evident (because it is proven) that Negreira received money from Barça, that a large part of the services he allegedly provided in exchange (advice and refereeing reports) lack documentary support and that the supplier was in those years vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the RFEF. But the thesis that the money, or part of it, ended up in the pockets of some referees to favor Barça on the field of play is losing strength.

Firstly, because, despite the social pressure to which the collective has been subjected, not a single one of the dozens of First Division referees in those almost two decades has suggested that this practice could exist. Neither by giving their name and surname to a confession nor by doing it anonymously. So far, not a single journalist following the case (and there are a lot of them) has published any information pointing in that direction. And there is not one who has not looked for it. Nor has the Treasury found any evidence in this regard.

The denunciation of Estrada Fernández
Only Xavier Estrada Fernández, Catalan and, therefore, never referee of a Barça match, has broken the unity of the group and it has been, precisely, to denounce Enríquez Negreira in court. His figure and his role in the case continues to generate controversy. The CTA is silent, so is he, and around him theories about who is behind his movement, if there is anyone. There are those who see Barça's hand behind the referee, but it is only a conjecture. Like the one that says he wants to take revenge on the CTA and the RFEF because he knew they would not renew his contract for next season. Then, however, he will be a councilor of the city council of Lleida for ERC if the May elections do not say otherwise.

Nor does it sit well with observers directly concerned with the case that there is a large referee scheme. In a League of 38 referees, they claim, a club would have to buy a large number of referees to ensure a behavior that would be meditatively beneficial to its interests. And maintaining this 'omertà' for so many years borders on the impossible.

Negreira's role in the CTA
And it cannot be overlooked that those who participated in those years in the refereeing profession emphasize that Negreira's role was residual, that he neither participated in the assignment of the referees nor decided on promotions and relegations, since he limited himself only to inform about them to the affected ones. And although this version generates doubts, it is clear that Negreira was a second-rate figure in the refereeing government.

So why did Barça, with four different presidents (Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu) pay at least 7.2 million euros to Negreira? The thesis that is gaining more strength in recent days, from the analysis of the documentation that the Prosecutor's Office made available to the court, is that the former vice president of the CTA was a vehicle for Barça executives to collect, indirectly from the coffers of the club itself, bonuses in black money. Executives who, by statute, cannot receive a salary from the Barça entity.

The Tax Agency itself, in the report that it transferred to the Prosecutor's Office (and this, in turn, to the judge) already reflected that Negreira withdrew in cash 28% of the money he received from Barça between 2016 and 2018, the period initially investigated. An amount that amounts to 557,871 euros in those years and that the Treasury believes could have been destined to third parties linked to Barcelona, as reported by El Periódico de Cataluña, of the Prensa Ibérica group.

The role of Josep Contreras
The role of the late executive Josep Contreras, intermediary and commissioner of the agreements between Barça and Negreira, reinforces this theory. According to this thesis, outlined by the Treasury in its report, the money that came out of Barça's coffers would be shared between him, the former referee and, possibly, those third parties linked to the club. Some of Barça's main detractors are convinced that this was the case.

Why would barça executives need to involve the Ref VP in order to get their "offside" bonuses?
It seems to me plausible that they got some money by these operations but why involve the Ref VP in the first place? They could have just created shady offshore accounts and create a fake contract with them (ref studies?).

Well exactly. Pretty clear campaign of BS here when the simplest and most likely explanation is the obvious one...

Apparently, according to the news, it is the conclusion that the people who are investigating the case are reaching.

Lawyers, economists, inspectors and other professionals studying and collecting information from thousands of documents.

It is daring, to say the least, that it is a BS campaign without reading any documents.

 

[Niemans]

I just said that I'm GRATEFUL that a person that consider russians as the new nazi jews, sees all this PRETTY CLEAR. And that I find funny that you don't consider that kind of behavior a "cult". I know, in terms of devils, Negreria >>>> Abramovich and Barca >>>> Russia. Your vocabulary is pretty clear regarding these comparatives and the way you want to treat the information

Roman: name
Julio Molinario?: name + surname
Jose Luis Marco Seu: name + 2 surnames
Sr. Rosell: surname
Sr. Micanor: surname
Antoni Vidal: name + surname
josep maria: name
Antoni Vidal: name + surname (repeated)
Sr. Gimenez Zapalna: 2 surnames
E. Granados: name initial + surname
Apaslegui: surname

So, 10 people mentioned (1 repeated), 8 of them include the surname, 5 the name.

But...

I literally said that there were no surnames on it and obviously I am correct.

So yeah... only EIGHT surnames.

A document from the 80s from an unrelated case (the mentioned banks in the document closed in the 80s/90s) and it is suspicious that "josep maria" (one of the most common names in catalonia) and "rosell" (a very common last name) in a list of 10 people are misteriously future presidents of Barca... 30 years after that... while they were at the university!!!

It was obvious that it had nothing to do with those Barca presidents (and another worker, Roman), it was just presented by Tebas to make noise. There are documents of the conquest of America that will include some josep maria too, probably bartomeu

Now that i think so... i know another Roman from the list... aren't you sure Abramovich wasn't involved in the 80s with Bartomeu in some shady stuff? we should let the prosecutors know!!!

They are arguing with you about the names found on a piece of paper, and that they were not of the presidents of Barcelona?

 

[FreckBarca]

The Russians and the Nazis have entered the field

WTH is even that. Someone is clearly losing the plot here

Apparently, according to the news, it is the conclusion that the people who are investigating the case are reaching.

Lawyers, economists, inspectors and other professionals studying and collecting information from thousands of documents.

It is daring, to say the least, that it is a BS campaign without reading any documents.

It just doesn't make any sense. It Barca executives wanted to keep the money why would dozens of thousands of euros coming from Barca end up as presents to the refs?

 

[Dave Smith]

This is absolutely hilarious. So, Barca decided to use a the VP of the refs in order to embezzle money, because that makes so much sense over well known money laundering techniques.

That is simply the most idiotic explanation to date, since by doing this it would lead to sporting corruption allegations.

If anyone believes this to be possible, they're probably the same type of people who believe that 'flat earthers make some good points' and that Kim Jong-il got 11 holes in one on his first attempt at golf.

 

[Krakenzero]

This is absolutely hilarious. So, Barca decided to use a the VP of the refs in order to embezzle money, because that makes so much sense over well known money laundering techniques.

And they stopped using him once he stopped being the VP of the refs, I guess because he wasn't able to do the job anymore. Don't forget that part.

 

[NLunited]

Apparently, according to the news, it is the conclusion that the people who are investigating the case are reaching.

Lawyers, economists, inspectors and other professionals studying and collecting information from thousands of documents.

It is daring, to say the least, that it is a BS campaign without reading any documents.

7.3 million paid by Barça to the vice president of referee committee. His son driving referees to games.

You know what it looks like. It sure doesn‘t look like CampNou‘s explanations. Those are straight out of the Russian trolling handbook.

To me it should look like relegation to 3d or 4th tier.

 

[Camara]

Apparently, according to the news, it is the conclusion that the people who are investigating the case are reaching.

Lawyers, economists, inspectors and other professionals studying and collecting information from thousands of documents.

It is daring, to say the least, that it is a BS campaign without reading any documents.

The same news say this theory has 2 major weak flaws: why use the ref VP as the head of this scheme (which if discovered would double as embezzlement and sporting corruption) and why did it stop in 2018.
In any case it's irrelevant if the barça presidents got some of the money - Barcelona paid the ref VP money. That alone is illegal and will lead to some punishment.

Also ironic accusing others of having a campaign and having no documents because that's exactly what you doing with this interpretation:
Quoting this article, that doesn't quote sources that can be checked (it's just trust me bro), says what others are thinking (might be true or not, we don't know), then later ends up saying the theory has 2 weak flaws anyway and that it must be fully evaluated.
I didn't need to read anything beforehand to come up with these flaws myself as they're so obvious.

With the information we have at the moment we should use Occam's Razor to get the most likely scenario:
Barça paid "hidden" money to someone, so one can suppose it was a shady/illegal deal.
That someone ends up being the ref VP, someone Barça should not be paying anyway, and that is only influential in the refosphere.
Barça could have wanted him to make referee reports but why then doing it from the shadows, why was it so expensive and why was Barça unable to present them when requested? This makes this hypothesis pretty unlikely.
The payments ended in 2018, the same year he stopped being the ref VP, so it reinforces the theory that the money was supposed to be for something related to his influence in his job.
This is the simplest explanation so it should be the most likely (given the info we have).

 

[NLunited]

The same news say this theory has 2 major weak flaws: why use the ref VP as the head of this scheme (which if discovered would double as embezzlement and sporting corruption) and why did it stop in 2018.
In any case it's irrelevant if the barça presidents got some of the money - Barcelona paid the ref VP money. That alone is illegal and will lead to some punishment.

Also ironic accusing others of having a campaign and having no documents because that's exactly what you doing with this interpretation:
Quoting this article, that doesn't quote sources that can be checked (it's just trust me bro), says what others are thinking (might be true or not, we don't know), then later ends up saying the theory has 2 weak flaws anyway and that it must be fully evaluated.
I didn't need to read anything beforehand to come up with these flaws myself as they're so obvious.

With the information we have at the moment we should use Occam's Razor to get the most likely scenario:
Barça paid "hidden" money to someone, so one can suppose it was a shady/illegal deal.
That someone ends up being the ref VP, someone Barça should not be paying anyway, and that is only influential in the refosphere.
Barça could have wanted him to make referee reports but why then doing it from the shadows, why was it so expensive and why was Barça unable to present them when requested? This makes this hypothesis pretty unlikely.
The payments ended in 2018, the same year he stopped being the ref VP, so it reinforces the theory that the money was supposed to be for something related to his influence in his job.
This is the simplest explanation so it should be the most likely (given the info we have).

Of course. It is blatantly obvious really.

 

[SirReginald]

This back and forward by Barcelona is literally going nowhere. Still haven’t seen any irrefutable evidence of innocence that Laporta would have you believe. All a sane person sees is a guilty party trying to muddy the water and misdirect investigations.

 

[rimaldo]

the thesis gaining ground this morning is that the spanish government refused to allow barcelona to donate millions of euros to sick kids as part of a tax write off. they said “our lax tax system has brought upon a great sadness to this country of inferior olive oil and regional dishes, and government officials need every cent. you will actually pay more taxes, barcelona, sick kids die every day, get over it.”

but barcelona wouldn’t accept this. there is of course a reason why they are know as the best club in the world, and that’s not just due to their endless successes. they just wouldn’t let this slide. they have to be better than the walls trying to pen them in.

luckily, the vp of refs at the time had a son, so he knew about children. benevolent barcelona then funnelled the money via him, cleverly disgusting the donations as “referee studies,” to show how above board the transactions were. barcelona donated so much money that when the vp of refs retired from being the vp of refs, they realised that their generous donations had in fact wiped out all sickness in children, so the payments came to a natural conclusion.

unfortunately, auditors, paid for by real madrid and an anti-barcelona cabal, dug deep to find as much dirt as possible and uncovered this perfectly legal payment and are now using it to destroy the reputation of barcelona.

 

[Brophs]

the thesis gaining ground this morning is that the spanish government refused to allow barcelona to donate millions of euros to sick kids as part of a tax write off. they said “our lax tax system has brought upon a great sadness to this country of inferior olive oil and regional dishes, and government officials need every cent. you will actually pay more taxes, barcelona, sick kids die every day, get over it.”

but barcelona wouldn’t accept this. there is of course a reason why they are know as the best club in the world, and that’s not just due to their endless successes. they just wouldn’t let this slide. they have to be better than the walls trying to pen them in.

luckily, the vp of refs at the time had a son, so he knew about children. benevolent barcelona then funnelled the money via him, cleverly disgusting the donations as “referee studies,” to show how above board the transactions were. barcelona donated so much money that when the vp of refs retired from being the vp of refs, they realised that their generous donations had in fact wiped out all sickness in children, so the payments came to a natural conclusion.

unfortunately, auditors, paid for by real madrid and an anti-barcelona cabal, dug deep to find as much dirt as possible and uncovered this perfectly legal payment and are now using it to destroy the reputation of barcelona.

Perfect.

 

[arthurka]

Barca going to Barca, what's new?

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

I just said that I'm GRATEFUL that a person that consider russians as the new nazi jews, sees all this PRETTY CLEAR. And that I find funny that you don't consider that kind of behavior a "cult". I know, in terms of devils, Negreria >>>> Abramovich and Barca >>>> Russia. Your vocabulary is pretty clear regarding these comparatives and the way you want to treat the information

Nope sorry, you are again just incorrect and/or completely incoherent. Hope you enjoy your cheating Nazi club though

 

[Mb194dc]

Do they really expect people to swallow this tripe?

Barcelona allegedly bribing the refs for 20 years is pretty much an existential threat to the totality of Spanish and European football.

So it shouldn't surprise if some other ludicrous explanation is wheeled out...

 

[Slevs]

the thesis gaining ground this morning is that the spanish government refused to allow barcelona to donate millions of euros to sick kids as part of a tax write off. they said “our lax tax system has brought upon a great sadness to this country of inferior olive oil and regional dishes, and government officials need every cent. you will actually pay more taxes, barcelona, sick kids die every day, get over it.”

but barcelona wouldn’t accept this. there is of course a reason why they are know as the best club in the world, and that’s not just due to their endless successes. they just wouldn’t let this slide. they have to be better than the walls trying to pen them in.

luckily, the vp of refs at the time had a son, so he knew about children. benevolent barcelona then funnelled the money via him, cleverly disgusting the donations as “referee studies,” to show how above board the transactions were. barcelona donated so much money that when the vp of refs retired from being the vp of refs, they realised that their generous donations had in fact wiped out all sickness in children, so the payments came to a natural conclusion.

unfortunately, auditors, paid for by real madrid and an anti-barcelona cabal, dug deep to find as much dirt as possible and uncovered this perfectly legal payment and are now using it to destroy the reputation of barcelona.

 

[NLunited]

Barcelona was helping underpaid referees. They could barely feed their children and sometimes could not afford bus tickets. Negreira‘s son picked them up and drove them to the games.

Barcelona is not disclosing this to not embarrass the poor men.

 

[HarryP]

The lack of humility that Barca have displayed is stomach churning tbh.

You don't get to secretly pay a ref chief 7m over a number of years and expect everyone else to believe everything was perfectly above board.

 

[NLunited]

The lack of humility that Barca have displayed is stomach churning tbh.

You don't get secretly pay a ref chief 7m over a number of years and expect everyone else to believe everything was perfectly above board.

They are shameless. They are again asking players to lower their salaries so they can make new signings again.

Considering they are without shame, everything makes more sense. The entitlement, cheating, embezzlement and outrage at being held accountable.

They are dragging Catalunia’s reputation down with them, which is terrible.

 

[FreckBarca]

So Laporta has finally decided to explain his version:

More than two months after the 'Negreira case' broke out, Joan Laporta has already chosen the moment in which he will explain the payment scandal to the vice president of the referees. The president of FC Barcelona will speak next Monday, April 17 , 11:00 a.m.

That whole paragraph is golden

 

[Ragnar123]

Next monday Laporta will finally speak about the case and present the results of the outsourced investigation.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[FreckBarca]

Will they blame Josep Contreras, the deceased Barca executive?

 

[Maagge]

Are Barca just reaching for any old shit they'd rather be punished for than bribing the VP of the refs?