Barcelona President Joan Laporta has three years remaining in his mandate, but there is a chance it may be brought to an end early by legal means. Laporta is set to stand trial alongside former Presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, and the club itself, for payments to former Vice-President of the Referees Committee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
According to Marca, the court magistrate organising the investigation into the payments has decided that the statute of limitations should be applied from the last payment made to Negreira. This would mean Laporta is also involved in the case, and he is now accused of bribery alongside his former colleagues.
The statute of limitations is set at 10 years for crimes of bribery, which dating back from 2023 when the case was opened, involved Barcelona presidents involved in paying Negreira between 2013 and 2018 (when the payments stopped). However the Magistrate Joaquin Aguirre has ruled that the statute of limitations dates back from when the final payments were made.
🚨 The judge accuses Joan Laporta of a crime of bribery in El Caso Negreira. The Barcelona President has been ordered to find a lawyer. @ellarguero
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 18, 2023
That dates back to 2008, and would involve Laporta for the final two years of his first Barcelona mandate, before Rosell took over in 2010.
So far Laporta has denied any wrongdoing on the part of the club regarding corruption, calling it a campaign against Barcelona. They say they are co-operating with the prosecutor on the matter.
No sporting corruption has been proven yet, but the charge of bribery simply corresponds to paying a public official for carrying out their job, regardless of the reciprocation received. Barcelona and Laporta will likely argue that Negreira is not a public official, rather part of a private company in the RFEF.
If Laporta were to be convicted, he could face jail time of between three and six years. The club meanwhile could face anything from a warning to liquidation, depending on the sentence. It should be noted that at this point Laporta and Barcelona are accused of bribery as part of the case, but they have not been found guilty yet.
Excellent, as pretty much anyone expected.
Hope the judge takes his earlier court adventures into consideration.
Repeated offender rarely enjoys same benefit of a doubt as a squeaky clean person.
All in all AHAHAHAH🫵🤣