Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been charged with alleged bribery over payments made to companies linked to the former vice president of the referees’ committee, José María Enríquez Negreira, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
The charges relate to Laporta’s first tenure as coach of the Catalan club between 2003 and 2010 after the judge ruled that the last years of that tenure could not be time-limited.
Laporta, who is back as president for a second term in 2021, was not initially named as a defendant when allegations of bribery were brought against Barca in September.
Former presidents Josep María Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, as well as Negreira and his son, Javier Enríquez Romero, are among the defendants.
However, the judge dealing with the case ruled on Wednesday that Laporta and his board of directors should be included in the investigation because the case is an ongoing case of bribery.
Therefore, the period of the investigation can cover a period of 10 years before the last payment made to Negreira, namely in 2018, so that the last two years of Laporta’s first term can be punished.
Barca paid Negreira’s company more than €7 million ($7.3 million) between 2001 and 2018 when he was vice-president of the referees’ committee.
He had previously been a referee in the Spanish top flight.
Laporta said the payments were for “technical reports on referees” and repeatedly denied the club had ever “bought referees or influence.”
However, prosecutors accused Rosell and Bartomeu of having an agreement with Negreira in which “he would take actions aimed at benefiting Barca in refereeing decisions in matches played by the club and thus in the outcome of the competition.”
Rosell was Barca president from 2010 to 2014 before Bartomeu replaced him.
After six years at the helm of the Catalan club, Bartomeu stepped down in 2020, and Laporta was chosen as his successor in 2021.
Barca was initially charged with corruption in sports, corruption in business, false administration, and falsification of commercial documents in March.
The bribery charge was added in September after a judge said Negreira was “exercising a public function” as vice president of the referees’ committee, which equated him to a public official.
