Barcelona will not go to trial for bribery in the ongoing ‘Caso Negreira‘ after the court magistrate accused the club and several presidents of the charge. The investigation is still ongoing, and Barcelona could yet be found guilty of other charges.
The Barcelona courts have found that the club cannot be convicted of bribery. The legal definition of bribery was the payment of public officials, which is illegal, and Barcelona have been found to have payed former Vice-President of the Referees Committee (CTA) Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira between €6m and €7m between 2001 and 2018. The club say this was for consultancy work, but the Spanish prosecution is investigating the matter.
🚨 JUST IN: The Barcelona Court has DISMISSED FC Barcelona's bribery charges in the Negreira case. @EFEnoticias
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) May 24, 2024
The court have ruled that Negreira did not constitute a public official in his role, as he operated in a private organisation. Barcelona have emitted a statement declaring their satisfaction at the ruling, stating that they will seek to confirm their innocence in the matter.
Nevertheless Barcelona are not out of the woods yet. The club are still being investigated for ‘dishonest administration’, and the main direction of the investigation currently, sporting corruption. The latter is the main charge that many feel Barcelona could face action on, but the prosecution have the added difficulty of proving that Barcelona received recompense for their payments to Negreira beyond the consultancy, whereas had the bribery charge been judged, they would only have needed to prove that the payments had taken place.
