Barcelona (AFP)
The Catalan regional police announced on Monday that they had made several "arrests" after their searches at the headquarters of FC Barcelona as part of an operation targeting, according to several media, former president Josep Maria Bartomeu a few days before the elections for the presidency of the club.
The spokesperson for the Catalan regional police refused to disclose the identities of those arrested, merely indicating that his agents were "in the process of making arrests".
But according to several media - including Cadena Ser radio, generally very well informed about the affairs of the Blaugrana club - Mr. Bartomeu is one of them.
La Cadena Ser also ensures that the director general in place, Oscar Grau, and the legal director, Roman Gomez Ponti, were also arrested.
According to Spanish media, the searches carried out at the headquarters of FC Barcelona are linked to the investigation into "BarçaGate", a case that surfaced a year ago.
On February 17, 2020, FC Barcelona denied being at the origin of a campaign of slander targeting club figures on social networks in order to improve the image of Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned on October 27 latest.
La Cadena Ser had shown in an investigation that Barca paid € 1million in six separate invoices to the company I3 Ventures, with whom the club have since cut ties.
"Have they been tasked with monitoring social media? The answer is yes. Have they been tasked with discrediting people or institutions on social media? The answer is no. And we will prosecute anyone who accuses us. of that ", was then defended Bartomeu, who finally threw in the towel at the end of October.
This police operation comes six days before the elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona scheduled for Sunday, where the socios (supporters-shareholders) will be called upon to choose between Joan Laporta, Toni Freixa and Victor Font.
© 2021 AFP