The Spanish football club Barcelona was formally charged with alleged bribery as part of investigations spanning two decades of activities at the country’s arbitration committee, according to a court document seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The The Civil Guard also searched the offices of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) at the headquarters of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in Madrid on Thursdaysaid the Court of Instruction number 1 of Barcelonaas part of the ongoing investigation into “possible systemic corruption” within Spanish arbitration.
Spanish football and RFEF In particular, they are going through a critical moment after the accusations of sexual assault against the former head of the RFEF Luis Rubiales.
August 20, Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso, World Cup winner, on the mouth. unleashing a scandal that largely overshadowed both the women’s team’s victory in Sydney like the arbitration scandal. Rubiales has since resigned.
The investigation included Barcelona
Research on arbitration has now expanded to include the Barcelona as a suspect. Investigating judge Joaquín Aguirre López said in early September that Barcelona could have benefited from alleged “systemic corruption.”
In March, prosecutors filed a complaint over alleged payments of more than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) over 17 years to companies owned by José María Enriquez Negreirawho from 1993 to 2018 was vice president of the CTA, belonging to the Real spanish soccer federation.
A source of Barcelona He told Reuters that the club will not issue an official statement, adding that its criminal lawyers had already contemplated the hypothesis and that they have been preparing for it from the beginning, working on all aspects related to the case.
He Barcelona, Spanish LaLiga championhas denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement in February that it had paid an external consultant to provide it with “technical reports related to professional refereeing”, which it said was common practice among professional football clubs.
He Real Madrid, Barça’s quintessential rival, It was presented as a private accusation, considering itself an injured party.
According to him judge Aguirre, Negreira He was in charge of classifying and evaluating the referees. However, no evidence has so far been found that Negreira paid referees to influence match outcomes, Aguirre said in early September.
Source: Ambito
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