Judge Joaquín Aguirre I decided this Wednesday Blame the current president of FC Barcelona, J.Oan Laporta started an investigation into the Negreira case, in which Barça’s former Vice President of the Referees Technical Committee José María Enriquez Negreira and his son were paid 7.3 million Euros for 18 years. The man attributes to him the same crimes attributed to former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu and two former managers of the club. So one ongoing crime of bribery and, alternatively, corruption in sports, another of unfair management and forgery of business documents.
The owner of the car to which El Periódico de Cataluña from Prensa Ibérica had access, Instruction Court No. 1 of Barcelona The status of those under investigation is expanded to include not only Laporta, but also all board members who were integrated into the club’s organizational chart between 2008 and 2010 and demonstrated “effective responsibility in taking the decision regarding the conduct of the investigation.” “Alleged illegal payments” to Enriquez Negreira and his son Javier Enriquez Romero.
The judge is of the opinion that the payments made by Barça to the former referee leader during Laporta’s first term (2003-2010) constitute a crime and have not expired, so they can be investigated. At that time, the prosecutor’s office excluded the current president of FC Barcelona from its complaint by applying a statute of limitations. However, the judge now states that the prescription constant bribery crime, It has been 10 years since the last crime, July 17, 2018, when the club made the final payment to the Enriquez family.
Limitation periods
With these calculations, the judge estimates that if the crime of bribery continues, the penalty that can be imposed should be a 10-year period for Barça’s former presidents and some former managers, starting from July 17, 2018. There would be a prison sentence of six to seven and a half years. Therefore, the period to be examined will extend until July 2008, during Laporta’s term in office. The decision states that in the case of Enriquez Negreira and his son, the attributable acts will last until June 2003 (the statute of limitations for them will be 15 years), since they will also be included by taking into account, although the prison sentence is the same. public officials are disqualified for more than 10 years.
Judge recalls punishing public official for bribery A person who receives money from a person to perform actions that violate the duties of the position. And he recalls that in the decision (September 27, 2023) attributing this crime to those being investigated, he criminally equated Erniquez Negreira with an official. Unlike the crime of corruption in sports, which must be tried in the people’s court, the crime of bribery does not require proof of compensation for payments made to a public official.
The payments, which the judge stated in his new decision, would increase from 70,000 euros per year to 700,000 euros. Barça stopped paying in 2018. When the referee leader leaves his position on the Referee Technical Committee. The judge therefore concludes that these payments “created the arbitration effects desired by FC Barcelona, such that there should be inequality in the treatment of other teams in the League and the Copa de Rey” and “the resulting systemic corruption in the Spanish arbitration process, This does not mean that every referee is corrupt. but a group of them.”
Enriquez notes that Negreira’s actions “may refer to biased arbitration appointments or caveats to normally designated arbitrators.” In the same vein, the judge adds that the purpose pursued by the payments was “spurious” and that they constituted an “act”. illegal violates the purity of sporting eventsUsing unethical methods to obtain privileged data not accessible to other teams or passing certain refereeing suggestions through Enriquez Negreira or his son Javier.