Josep Maria Bartomeu, president of FC Barcelona between 2015 and 2020, considers the commotion caused after the Cadena SER program Què t'hi jugues uncovered the continued payment by the Barça club to a company owned by José María to be disproportionate Enriquez Negreira, former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, for various advisory services.
Bartomeu, in statements to La Vanguardia, recalls that the relationship between the company DASNIL 95 and FC Barcelona started long before he became president, specifically in the time of Josep Llúís Núñez, and that, successively, this relationship was maintained with Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell and himself in the box. It was in 2018, with Bartomeu still in office, when he stopped paying any payment.
Bartomeu denies that the services provided by Enriquez Negreira's company had to do with an attempt to influence the arbitrations. "It is absolutely false and absurd to think that we bought any referee, there is nothing to hide." The former Barca president recalls that the payments were made in exchange for "usual" arbitration reports in the world of football and that they were sued by the technical area. "The reports exist, they were delivered both to the first team and to Barça B before each game to comment on aspects about the referee they had to play. The coaches and players thanked them." "If we had influenced the referees -adds Bartomeu- they would not have disallowed a goal on the last day against Atlético that gave us a League, it is absurd to think that. And I could give more examples".
Bartomeu acknowledges that the person who prepared the aforementioned reports, in DVD format, was always Javier Enríquez Romero, son of Enriquez Negreira and administrator of the company. "Not only did he make these types of reports, he also advised us on other matters, he was a very good professional. I barely had contact with his father," he highlights. In 2018, together with the general director Òscar Grau and the entity's general manager, Pep Segura, they decided to assume all this advice internally, without outsourcing it, to cut costs, although coinciding with the end of Enriquez Negrerira's stage. as vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. "It was coincidence," says Bartomeu, who does assume, on his part and by extension all the presidents involved, certain doubts "of an ethical nature" about what was done, but never "of a legal nature." "The payments were high, yes," he admits.
Since the Prosecutor's Office began the investigation of the case for alleged corruption between individuals (prompted by the Treasury's warning against alleged non-payments by the DASNIL 95 company), a large number of testimonies have been declaring, including Bartomeu himself.
