Fine, suspension from European competitions or liquidation: what threatens Barcelona in the corruption case

 

Barcelona prosecutors have filed charges against the local club. Former leaders of the Catalan team are accused of corruption, bad administration, falsification of documents, and work with judges. If their involvement in the payments to the former vice-president of the technical refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, is proven, the 26-time Spanish champion may face punishment up to the liquidation of the legal entity, and the functionaries risk jail time.

Over the past few months, several high-profile scandals have thundered in the football world at once. At the end of January, Turin's Juventus were fined 15 points in Serie A for financial fraud, and a few weeks later, similar charges were made against two other top clubs in the Old World - Manchester City and Paris Saint - Germain. In March, it was the turn of Barcelona, ​​which is suspected of corruption and working with judges.

What is Barcelona accused of?

According to the prosecutor's office, the reason was the situation around the payments to the former vice-president of the technical refereeing committee (CTA) of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), José María Enriquez Negreira. It is noted that the Catalan club 2016 to 2018 transferred a total of € 1.4 million to the accounts of DASNIL 95 SL, owned by the vice president of STA, allegedly for the provision of consulting services. And in the management, the Blaugrans confirmed that in the past they really used the services of an external consultant who provided technical reports on young players from other teams in Examples and on refereeing. 

The competent authorities also suggested that Negreira for money "carried out certain actions aimed at providing the team with preferences when making decisions in matches by referees." Simply put, he provided them with support from the judges. At the same time, the agreement between the parties was concluded orally, and the contact with the official was carried out by the ex-presidents of the Blaugrana Josep Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, as well as the former director's Oscar Grau and Albert Soler.

At the moment, charges have been brought against Barcelona itself, as well as each of the alleged defendants in the case, who are charged with corruption between individuals in the field of sports, unfair administration, and falsification of documents.

What prompted the prosecutor's office to investigate

According to El Confidencial, the 26-time Spanish champion was suspected of fraud back in 2019. And in fact, this became known thanks to the actions of the club itself. They tried to get a tax deduction for the number of bills paid for Negreira's services. However, the service considered that they could be fictitious, and requested several documents to clarify the nature of the relationship between Barcelona and the companies DASNIL 95 SL and Nisdal SCP (controlled by the CTA vice president). In particular, blue garnets were asked to provide copies of invoices (invoices issued by the seller to the buyer for payment), contracts for the provision of services, and explanations on the form and purpose of payments.

However, the Catalans sent only copies of invoices, citing the fact that the organizations provided video consulting services. But it was also not possible to confirm this by transferring records: allegedly, the materials were not found. Based on this, the tax office concluded that Barcelona reduced the tax base by the number of fictitious accounts, qualifying this as financial fraud.

In this regard, in 2021, the blue garnets received a proposal to resolve this issue by paying a fine totaling about €877,000. And although they later agreed, it was too late: the case was transferred from the tax service to the prosecutor's office.

Was this an isolated case of cooperation between Barcelona and Negreira?

According to El Mundo's investigative journalism, it went on for a long period. It is noted that Negreira regularly received money for information about arbitrators from 2001 to 2018. During this period, the total amount of payments amounted to €6.66 million.

At the same time, the former head of the CTA allegedly contacted the club even after he left his post in the organization. In 2020, Negreira offered Barcelona help with VAR. He assured me that cooperation with him would bring serious dividends to the team, and asked to contact him. However, this time his appeal was ignored. The reason for this was dissatisfaction with the official's constant threats to make public information about fictitious payments to former coach Josep Contreras. Previously, he headed the blue garnet backup team and served on the board of directors under three former presidents - José Luis Nunez, Joan Gaspare, and Josep Bartomeu.

How did Barcelona react to the accusations?

The club expectedly chose to deny any suspicion of corruption. The current president, Joan Laporta, assured that Barcelona had never bought referees and did not intend to do so in the future, and linked the investigation to damage its image and seize control over it. In his opinion, the situation could have been provoked by the refusal to sign a contract with CVC Capital Partners, which obligated the Blaugrana to sell television rights for 50 years, as well as participation in the Superleague project.

The former midfielder of the team, Francesc Fabregas, who defended his colors from 2011 to 2014, also gave his comment on this topic. In a conversation with Cadena SER, he noted that he had not received a single judicial report, and the decision of the prosecutor's office to open a case came as a surprise to him. At the same time, he emphasized that during the period of playing for the blue garnet, he personally encountered unfair arbitration. According to him, it was the referee's controversial verdict that prevented Barcelona from winning the national championship in 2014. Then the trophy was won by Atlético.

Already after the official filing of the lawsuit, the Blaugrana issued a statement. According to her, the leadership foresaw this scenario and called the version of the prosecutor's office nothing more than a preliminary hypothesis, which could be confirmed or refuted only as a result of the investigation. At the same time, Barcelona expressed its readiness to cooperate with the investigation in everything deemed necessary.

What awaits Barcelona if the guilt is proven

If offenses on the part of the Catalans are proven, then the preventive measures can be very different. As noted in the Spanish media, we can talk about a large fine, demotion, and even liquidation of a legal entity. At the same time, experts interviewed by La Vanguardia are inclined to believe that the most likely punishment will be a monetary penalty, while more serious consequences are unlikely.

Among other things, the guilty verdict threatens Barcelona with suspension from participation in championships under the auspices of UEFA. According to Marca, in this case, the union can refer to paragraph G of Article 4 of the European Cup Regulations. It states that competitors must not use illegal methods to influence the results of matches, both nationally and internationally.

And although there are no clear recommendations regarding disqualification, UEFA retains the right to prevent a particular team from competing if it is suspected. After all, the same article says that the reputation of tournaments should not be questioned.

As for the former Barcelona bosses, Bartomeu and Rosell face jail terms of six months to four years for corruption and six months to three years for bad administration. At the very least, this applies to Josep, while information differs regarding Sandro. If La Vanguardia reports that both ex-presidents are under investigation, then El Pais notes that this does not apply to Sandro, because the period for considering his offenses has already expired.

Nevertheless, the situation of Barca cannot be called hopeless, because its guilt will be recognized only if the investigation succeeds in proving that Negreira's payments were intended precisely to ensure the refereeing team needed. And this is not so easy to do, because it is hardly possible to achieve recognition from the former vice president of the CTA himself. Previously, investigators had already contacted him, but he exercised the right to refuse to testify in connection with Alzheimer's disease.