Big Storm Almost Barcelona, Charged With Bribery Referee

Barcelona allegedly bribed the former vice president of the Spanish referees committee. (IG@fcbarcelona)

JAKARTA Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona face corruption charges. They are suspected of bribing former vice president of the Spanish refereeing committee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

The Barcelona court charged the Catalan club, former club officials, and Negreira on Friday local time. The charges given are related to corruption, abuse of trust, and false business records.

The case was revealed last month. Barca is said to have paid Negreira and a company owned by it for a total of 8.4 million euros (Rp138 billion) between 2001 and 2018.

The lawsuit filed by Barcelona's public prosecutor's office targets clubs, former President Josep Maria Bartomeu, and Sandro Rosell.

"FC Barcelona received and maintained a very secret verbal agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira in his capacity as vice president of the technical arbitration committee (CTA) in exchange for money so that his actions tend to benefit Barcelona in the referee's decision," the public prosecutor said., reported by BBC Sport.

La Liga chief executive Javier Tebas said last month that current club president Joan Laporta should resign if he cannot explain the payments.

Laporta responded by saying he would not give Tebas what he wanted by resigning. The allegations came three days after Laporta confirmed that his club had never paid the referee.

"Let's be clear Barca have never paid the referee and Barca have never intended to pay the referee. Never at all," he said on Tuesday.

The payment was first leaked last month by radio station Ser Catalunya. The case was investigated after an investigation was carried out by the tax authority against a company owned by Negreira, Dasnil 95.

Barcelona made payments to the company for a total of 1.4 million euros (Rp23 billion) between 2016 and 2018, and paid Negreira, 77 years, around 7 million euros (Rp115.6 billion) between 2001 and 2018, the year she left her role on the referee's committee.

Barca itself admits that it is true that they paid Dasnil 95. However, the payments were described as external technical consultants to compile video reports related to professional referees with the aim of completing the information needed by the coaching staff.

They added that it was a common practice among professional clubs. However, this case escalated as 18 out of 20 La Liga clubs issued statements expressing deep concern over this situation.

Laporta then responded that the club would conduct an internal investigation into the payments.

Barcelona coach, Xavi, who won eight La Liga titles with them as players between 1998 and 2015, said he was unaware of the payment and never felt his team made a profit.

"I've always wanted to win, but in a fair way. If I thought we had cheated, I would go home," he said after Barca's 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the European League last month.