Barcelona accused of paying a senior official to influence judges

On Friday, the public prosecutor's office said Spanish prosecutors had filed a complaint against the catalyna giant and two of the club's former presidents over the alleged payments to a company owned by senior judge official to influence match results, Report Express broadcast.

The club allegedly paid over 7.3m euros between 2001 and 2018 firms owned by Enriquez Negreira, who held his role in the Spanish Football Federation between 1993 and 2018.

Prosecutors claim that under a secret agreement and “in exchange for money”, Negreira favoured Barcelona “in decisions made by judges at matches played by the club, as well as in the results of the” races.

The club denied these claims last month, saying they had simply paid an external consultant who supplied them with <x0 technical reports about the professional reference”, calling it “a common practice among professional football clubs”.

The charge focuses on 2.9m euros paid between 2014 and 2018, claiming that Barcelona -- with the help of former SandroRol and Josep Maria Bartomeu -- reached a “confidential verbal” deal with Nerceran.

Rosell, Bartholomew, Negreira and two other former Barcelona officials are now being accused of corruption in sports, unjust management and counterfeiting into commercial documents.

The investigation was initiated by a tax check. According to the newspaper “El Pais”, Negreira told the Spanish tax agency that Barcelona's goal with the payments was to have judges “neutral” in their matches.

The case in question is now taken by the Spanish public prosecutor's office, which issued this statement Friday: “The FC Barcelona received and held a strictly confidential verbal agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, so that, in its quality, as deputy chairman of the technical arbitration committee (CTA) and in exchange for money, it would carry out actions to benefit FC Barcelona in judges' decisions”.