The Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) in Spain have started an investigation of sorts of their own into El Caso Negreira, as suspicion continues over Barcelona’s relationship to the fomer Vice-President of the CTA.
Enriquez Negreira’s business Dansil 95, which consisted of only two employees (Negreira and his son), are alleged to have received payments over a spell of 17 years from Barcelona to the tune of €6.7m. A tax investigation into the matter is ongoing.
Many have questioned what Barcelona could have been paying for, given the rather high price of the consultancy fees. Head of the CTA Luis Medina Cantalejo (via Diario de Sevilla), declared last week that he would his neck on line to say that there had been no undue influence on referees one way or another.
However as per Cadena Cope, the CTA have sent out a questionnaire to their referees in order to establish the facts. There were reports that Enriquez Negreira’s son, Javier Enriquez Romero, was accustomed to taking referees from their hotel to Camp Nou.
Their questionnaire consisted of four questions, asking whether referees had had contact with Enriquez Romero before or after 2018 (when Enriquez Negreira lost his position at the CTA), and whether they had any relations with him.
In the case of yes, they were asked to indicate when, for how long and what type of relations they were, and whether there was ever any economic exchange.
As much as the bottom of this case seems quite some way away, it appears several bodies in Spanish football will have to review their activities, and who is acting where. There should be a keen interest not only to clear up this case, but also to put in place measures that prevent a case like this ever going unnoticed for so long.
BribELona.