Real Madrid will be a private prosecution against FC Barcelona in the Negreira case. The judge in charge of the case, Silvia López Mejía, has accepted the personation of the white club in the case regarding the alleged payment of bribes to the former number two of the Technical Committee of Arbitrators (CTA) because she understands that he could be harmed before a eventual alteration of the competition. This means that the club presided over by Florentino Pérez will be able to participate in the judicial proceedings, having direct access to the documentation, participating in the interrogations of the accused, requesting the practice of evidence and, ultimately, requesting penalties for those investigated, among which there is FC Barcelona.
The judge recognizes the "legitimate interest" of Real Madrid to participate as a victim in the judicial process. "The facts investigated refer to certain actions of people linked to FC Barcelona with a tendency to favor the club in the decision-making of the referees and, therefore, in the results of the competition", underlines the interlocutory. And he adds that any club, such as Real Madrid, "has a direct interest in there being no acts of any kind that involve sports manipulation that could result in the illegal alteration of the result of the competition". This decision opens the door for the other clubs in the League to be involved in the case. Many abstained because they were already registered under the umbrella of the Professional Football League (LaLiga).
Real Madrid asked the judge to be able to act as a private prosecutor in the Negreira case, claiming that he had been harmed by the aforementioned action and asserting an "indisputable interest" in favor of the "transparency of the competition" sports in which he participates". The Prosecutor's Office supported this personation. Instead, FC Barcelona presented to the judge a letter in which it opposed the personation of Real Madrid. He alleged that the white club had no legitimacy, since he had no reason to have been offended or harmed" by the performance of the Blaugrana club, and he considered that in the event that there was a harmed person, it would correspond to LaLiga as the organizer of the competition to play this role. He argued that the role that Real Madrid assumes in ensuring the transparency of the competition is already exercised by LaLiga.
At the same time, the magistrate has rejected the inclusion in the Negreira case of the Superior Sports Council because she understands that it cannot hold the status of injured party, since it is not up to them to ensure the transparency of the competition.
The Court of Inquiry number 1 of Barcelona is investigating the Negreira case after accepting a complaint from referee Xavier Estrada Fernández and a complaint from the Prosecutor's Office after being warned that FC Barcelona paid 7.3 million euros to the vice president of the CTA for 17 years. In the case, José María Enríquez Negreira, former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep María Bartomeu, former club executives Òscar Grau and Albert Soler, as well as FC Barcelona as a legal entity, are being investigated.
