On a recent Wednesday, Judge Joaquín Aguirre reviewed the ongoing inquiry into the Negreira case. The matter centers on José María Enríquez Negreira, the former Vice President of Barça’s Referees Technical Committee, and his son, who together received 7.3 million euros over 18 years. The judge notes that criminal charges once leveled at former Barça presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as two former club managers, could also apply in this situation. The potential accusations include bribery and, in alternative form, corruption in sports, along with charges of unfair management and forgery of business documents.
The court is assessing whether the payments to Negreira and his son constitute illegal acts. The inquiry extends beyond Laporta, reaching every member of Barça’s board who held a position within the club’s organizational framework from 2008 to 2010 and who demonstrably exercised decision‑making influence. The focus is on alleged illicit payments to Enríquez Negreira and his son, Javier Enríquez Romero.
The judge believes that the payments made by Barça to the former referee leader during Laporta’s first term (2003–2010) amount to a crime and remain within the scope of investigation. Previously, the prosecutor’s office had dismissed the current president from its complaint due to the statute of limitations. The judge now argues that the specific bribery offense carries a ten‑year window after the final known act. July 17, 2018 marks the last payment by the club to the Enriquez family, a fact that resets certain legal considerations within the case.
Limitation Periods
Using these calculations, the judge estimates that if bribery occurred as a recurring pattern, the potential penalty for Barça’s former presidents and some former managers could be limited to a ten‑year window starting July 17, 2018. That would imply a prison term ranging from six to seven and a half years. The period to be examined would extend back to July 2008, during Laporta’s presidency. The decision notes that for Enriquez Negreira and his son, the acts attributed would last until June 2003, meaning their statute of limitations would run out after fifteen years. Public officials found to have engaged in such acts could face disqualification for more than a decade, even as the legal process unfolds.
The judge also recalls that a public official who accepts money in exchange for actions that breach official duties can be punished. In a prior ruling dated September 27, 2023, the judge attributed this crime to those under investigation and equated Enríquez Negreira with a public official in that sense. Unlike the sport‑specific corruption charge, bribery does not require proof of formal compensation for payments made to a public official to establish guilt.
According to the new decision, the payments could have risen from around 70,000 euros per year to as much as 700,000 euros. Barça halted payments in 2018 when Enríquez Negreira left his role with the Referee Technical Committee. The judge concludes that these payments may have produced the intended arbitration effects for Barça, creating a perception of unequal treatment among other teams in the League and in the Copa del Rey. This is described as a systemic issue within the arbitration process in Spain, not a blanket indictment of all referees, but rather an assertion that a group of officials could have been influenced.
Enríquez noted that Negreira’s actions could point to biased arbitration appointments or caveats to typically designated arbitrators. The judge adds that the objective behind the payments appeared to be improper and that the actions violated the integrity of sporting events. He suggested the payments used unethical methods to obtain privileged information not accessible to other teams or to pass along suggested refereeing considerations through Enríquez Negreira or his son.