Barcelona president Joan Laporta has released a statement after the reports of the club paying a former ref for advice.
Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former Catalan referee, received 1,392,680 euros from Barça for at least three years (from 2016 to 2018). He did it through the company DASNIL 95 SL and for giving ‘advice’.
According to the same report, the justice system is investigating this fact for an alleged crime of ‘corruption between private individuals’. The former official was the sole partner of the company, which in 2016 billed Barça 532,728, euros; in 2017, 541,752 euros; and in 2018, 318,200, all during the mandate of Josep Maria Bartomeu. The billing reason was “technical advice”. In the tax agency’s report, “FCB wanted to make sure that arbitration decisions weren’t going to go against them.”
Laporta explained the role of the external consultant and stated that this figure is now being absorbed by the soccer department.
“It is no coincidence that information of this type has come out when Barcelona is doing well, it is no coincidence,” Laporta forcefully told the club’s official media channels.
“Faced with the information that has appeared say that Barcelona, in the past, hired the services of an external consultant for technical reports on players of lower categories of the Spanish state.
“In addition, this same consultant provided arbitration advice, which is very normal in the big clubs.
“In fact, today we have this area integrated into the organization chart and it is assigned to the soccer area, as is normal.”
In addition, the president has warned that Barcelona reserves the right to take any legal action.
“The news is striking and it is no coincidence that it comes out now,” he continued.
“On the part of Barcelona, any captious, tendentious interpretation that insinuates things that are not will receive a proportional and appropriate response from the club.
“We reserve all the actions necessary to defend the honorability and interests of Barcelona.”
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