Barcelona Accused Of Bribing Referee $1.5 Million, May Face La Liga Relegation

Strict legal action could be taken against Spanish football club Barcelona which is being accused of bribing Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. The club is being accused of bribing him €1.4mn ($1.5 million) during the tenure of club president Josep Bartomeu. The punishment could be as harsh as it could compel the Spanish giants to be relegated from La Liga, a Forbes report said.

Negreira and his son, while testifying before the prosecutor’s office rubbished the claims. They claimed that the payment was made only due to advisory work and had no intention of wrongdoing. Barca also denied the allegation through an official statement.

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The accusations come at a time when Barcelona has been leading La Liga with 56 points in 18 matches. They are 8 points ahead of their arch-rivals Real Madrid who are in the second spot. The said allegations were brought to light by the SER Catalunya radio program Que t’hi jugues on Wednesday. As explained by them, the club paid €532,728.02 ($571,000) to Negreira in 2016, €541,752 ($580,000) in 2017, and then finally €318,200 ($341,000) in 2018.

Negreira remained in his role at the Royal Spanish Football Federation for more than two decades from 1994 to 2018. The money was reportedly transferred to his company named DASNIL 95. According to him, the money was given in exchange for advice on how players should treat referees and what they can and cannot do based on which official was in charge of a particular match. Although, Negreira failed to submit any required documents in an effort to prove his statement.

Barcelona, who are well aware of the Prosecutor’s Office investigating the payment, acknowledged that they provided the money only for an “external technical consultant.” “FC Barcelona hired the services of an external technical consultant in the past, who supplied, in video format, technical reports referring to lower-category players in Spain for the Club’s technical secretariat,” the club statement read.

The news broke in the wake of Barcelona’s ongoing clash against La Liga president Javier Tebas over their backing for a separate European Super League (ESL) which also got the support of Real Madrid. Juventus, the other team backing the ESL, was relegated to Serie B after being found guilty of paying referees in a 2006 match-fixing scandal. It took years for the Italian side to bring back its reputation in European football.

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