A Spanish court declared that Barcelona could have benefited for nearly two decades from a “possible systemic corruption”in the midst of the scandal over the arbitrations in that countryas supported by official documents.
The examining magistrate Joaquin Aguirre Lopez maintained that he believed that any other team of The league who competed against him Barcelona between 2001 and 2018 – when the club made alleged payments to a company owned by a senior arbitration official – could have been harmed by the alleged plot and could take legal action.
In March, prosecutors filed a complaint for alleged payments of more than €7.3 million ($7.8 million) for 17 years to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreirawho was vice president of Arbitration Committee of the Football Federation (CTA) between 1993 and 2018.
The eternal rival of “Barça”, the real Madridhad joined the prosecution in the lawsuit as an aggrieved party.
“It is presumed by pure logic that FC Barcelona would not pay vice-president Negreira around seven million euros since 2001 if it did not benefit him”expressed aguirre in Tuesday’s ruling rejecting the institution’s appeal against the participation of the real Madrid in the lawsuit.
Other First Division teams could have been potentially harmed as well, he said, if it was proven that the CTA he assigned referees to certain matches according to criteria unrelated to their technical qualities.
So far no evidence has been found that negreira pay referees to influence match outcomescontinued aguirre.
The court also opened a separate case to investigate alleged money laundering by negreirahis son and the network of companies through which the alleged payments of the Barcelona.
In a statement issued in February, Barcelona denied having committed any crime, stating that he had paid an external consultant who supplied him with technical reports related to professional arbitration. It was a common practice among professional football clubs, the Catalan team said.
Source: Ambito
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