Barça paid 1.4 million euros between 2016 and 2018 for advisory services to the company DASNIL 95, owned by José María Enríquez Negreira, at that time vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) of the Royal Spanish Federation of Soccer (RFEF). Some payments that are being investigated by the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office for alleged tax irregularities with the ex-arbitrator's Treasury, which is now facing a possible crime of corruption between individuals. The news, revealed by the 'Què T'hi Jugues' program on the SER network and later confirmed by 'La Vanguardia', provoked a reaction in the form of a statement from the Blaugrana club. Barça admits the external contracting of these services and frames them within "a common practice in professional football".
The Barcelona club paid the last invoice, worth 318,200 euros, in June 2018, when Enríquez Negreira ceased to be a member of the CTA. The other two payments are 532,728.02 euros in 2016 and 541,752 euros in 2017.
In his explanations before the Tax Agency, Enríquez Negreira "did not provide any document proving that he provided a service to Barça", according to the Treasury document. The advice, which was based on a verbal agreement, focused on how the players should behave in front of each referee.
The former referee and his son, Javier Enríquez Romero, who was the company's administrator, have testified before the Prosecutor's Office as well as senior Barça executives. The service they offered was included in a report that was delivered to the sports managers of the first team and the subsidiary. Enríquez Negreira denied to the SER that these services implied a favorable arbitration treatment for Barça on the pitch.
Asked about this matter, the president of Barça in that period, Josep Maria Bartomeu, explained that the club stopped paying for this service following a policy of cutting expenses.
Bartomeu also ensures that these payments date back to before 2003, the year in which Joan Gaspart ceased to be president and Joan Laporta's first term began. Sources from Sandro Rosell's board of directors confirm the existence of this service, while Gaspart is not aware of it and Laporta reacted through the Barcelona statement and with statements to the club's media.
"This service was contracted to have reports from lower-category players and then, additionally, it was expanded for arbitration advice. In fact, arbitration advice is no longer done by an external company, now it is done internally at the club. The The news is surprising and it is no coincidence that it is coming out now. Any tendentious interpretation of this information will receive a proportional and adequate response. We will carry out all the actions necessary to defend the honor of the club", stated Laporta.
Minutes before the president's words, Barça responded to this information that had been around for a couple of weeks with a statement in which it admits that it hired the services of this company and in which it regrets that the matter is breaking out precisely now, at the best moment. sporting event of the season and with Manchester United visiting the Camp Nou. Barcelona confirms and makes it clear that "in the past it hired the services of an external technical consultant, who supplied, in video format, technical reports referring to lower-category players for the technical secretariat."
Subsequently, these services were extended "with technical reports related to professional arbitration to complement the information required by the coaching staff of the first team and the subsidiary, a common practice in professional football." Barcelona assures that this type of outsourced services currently falls "to a professional attached to the soccer area." The club also warns that it will take legal action if, as a result of this information, the reputation of the entity is damaged "with possible insinuations."
The Barça coach, Xavi Hernández, also normalized the payments to the DASNIL 95 company. "We are always aware of the referees, whether they are communicative or not. This has been established internally in the club for years. It is nothing new", said the man from Egar in the press conference prior to the match against Manchester United this Thursday.
