Barcelona charged with corruption over payments to former referees' official

Prosecutors have formally charged Spanish soccer club Barcelona with corruption for payments made over several years to a company owned by the country's refereeing committee's vice president. The decision, which became official on Friday, was first reported by the Spanish newspaper El Pas earlier this week. An investigating judge will now decide whether to press charges in response to the accusations.

Barcelona have been scrutinised since the club's multimillion-dollar payments became public. The payments were initially looked into as part of a tax investigation into the company. Prosecutors have now issued three charges, including alleged sports corruption and fraudulent management. Another charge stemmed from the alleged falsification of commercial documentation.

Barcelona have consistently denied any wrongdoing or conflict of interest, saying it paid for technical reports on referees but never tried to influence their decisions in games. The complaint focuses on the 2.9 million euros paid between 2014 and 2018 and alleges that



Barcelona - with the help of former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu - reached a "confidential verbal agreement" with Negreira.

It accuses the club, Rosell, Bartomeu, Negreira and two other former Barcelona officials of corruption in sports, unfair administration and falsehood in mercantile documents. The investigation was triggered by a tax inspection. Negreira told the Spanish tax agency that Barcelona's goal with the payments was to have "neutral" referees in their games, according to El Pais newspaper.

Spanish soccer has been rocked in recent weeks after it was revealed that Spain's tax authorities were investigating Barcelona's payment of 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) to a company owned by former referee José Mara Enrquez Negreira, who served on the Spanish soccer federation's refereeing committee from 1994 to 2018. The accusations are against the Barcelona club, Enríquez, former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, and former Barcelona executives Óscar Grau and Albert Soler.