The Prosecutor's Office is finalizing its complaint against Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu and some of its managers, and Enríquez Negreira for the payments made for 17 years to the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. The crimes that will be imputed to the ex-directors and the club, according to judicial sources, will be those of corruption between individuals in the sports field in its continued version and that of unfair administration. The Prosecutor's Office sees indications that Barça paid commissions to Negreira and that he allocated the members' money to a service that was not provided or for which an overprice was paid.
The legislation provides for penalties of between six months and four years in prison for corruption, and six months and three years for unfair administration that former executives should face if convicted. And the club? What consequences should you assume if you are found guilty in the Negreira case? The penal code establishes that the entities that are convicted of corruption between individuals must respond with the payment of a fine, but it also provides for the judicial intervention of the club, the reduction of category or even the dissolution of the entity, in the most extreme cases. The experts consulted see it as probable that Barça will be sentenced to a fine and it is unlikely that they will have to assume more serious consequences.
To prove the corruption, it should be shown that Barça paid Negreira with the intention of "altering the competition". "It should be proven that the payments were conditional on a favor or a consideration, because if you only paid for some reports, there is no crime," warns the criminal lawyer Eloi Castellarnau. This is one of the key points. In the investigation it must be clarified if the payments were intended to condition the actions of the referees to favor Barça. If it cannot be proven, there will be no case. On the other hand, for the crime of unfair administration, which punishes the payment of overprices, it will be more difficult for Barça to justify the payment of 1.4 million euros in two years (seven million in 17 years) for some reports on the profile of the referees that several coaches have denied having seen. The Sports Law, and the regulations of the Spanish Football Federation indicate that serious infractions prescribe after three years, with which Barça's responsibility for this matter would be extinguished, since the investigation only focuses on payments between 2016 and 2018.
The club, therefore, could not be sanctioned. However, the UEFA regulations could have consequences. The regulation of the European establishment maintains that to participate in its competitions, the Champions League and the Europa League, the club must "not have been involved in any activity aimed at organizing or influencing the result of a match at a national or international level", with which it could do without inviting Barça in its competitions if the club is condemned. “This is a requirement to enter the competition. If UEFA considers that this requirement is not met, it would not allow Barça to enter the Champions League. UEFA cannot sanction, because the scope of the Negreira case is Spanish, but it could demand that this requirement be applied”, clarifies Cristian Zarroca, lawyer from the Darlegal Consulting sports law firm. The legal scenario that awaits Barça will continue for the next few years.
The Prosecutor's Office will present the brief shortly and it will be the judge who decides to admit it for processing and to summon the first investigated to testify. In addition to Bartomeu, the former general manager Òscar Grau and the former director of professional sports at the club, Albert Soler, will also appear. Joan Gaspart, Sandro Rosell and Joan Laporta will parade before the judge as witnesses to clarify why they paid Negreira so much money for so long.
