Sandro Rosell was arrested on May 23, 2017. He himself found out by reading it in the press, before the police even entered his home. They accused him of laundering 20 million euros in commissions. Also of being the foreman of a criminal organization . Together with the manager Joan Besolí, he spent 643 days in preventive detention, while the judge who was in charge of the investigation, Carmen Lamela, shut the door of his cell over and over again. He understood that there was a risk of flight, so he denied any request to be released on bail.

Rosell, once he had overcome his ordeal after he was acquitted on April 24, 2019 by the First Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court, is clear about the reason for his descent into hell. "If he had not been president of Barcelona, ​​he would not have gone to jail. I have no doubt of that," he said in the preview of an interview with Mundo Deportivo.

"Nor do I believe that anyone would have investigated me business-wise. I had not been spied on. I would not have had such an aggressive prosecution that I still have, with 72 actions by the Tax Agency since I was elected president of Barça . Before being president, zero tax inspections. Casual? ", Abounds who was Barça's top president between June 2010 and January 2014, when the Neymar case broke out .

In July 2018, even from prison and in an interview with this newspaper, Rosell already expressed that occupying the Barcelona presidential chair was the reason why he ended up in prison.

In his book Un Fuerte Abrazo (Plaza & Janés), the content of which was advanced last March by EL MUNDO and which will be published in the coming days, Rosell already expressed his suspicions about a plot: " Maybe it was because we put the Four bars on Barça's shirt? Or because we allowed the Catalan Way to pass through the Camp Nou? Or because we let the Llibertat Concert take place? Maybe it was because we had hired Neymar against the will of another team? Or that we had sold Barça's television rights to Telefónica instead of Mediapro? Or maybe because I was president of Barcelona? Or the mix of everything? "

In fact, in that same advance of the work published by this newspaper, Rosell goes so far as to accuse the Judicial Police of introducing envelopes into his house with money , with new bills and correlatives in the serial number, the day of his arrest to incriminate him: "The police officer opened the closet and went directly to Marta's coat and from one of his pockets he took out an envelope with an inscription that says 'RT' and '5K'. I told him that the envelope was not mine and he answered me it must be my wife's then. I said no, it wasn't mine or hers, this morning this envelope wasn't there. " Rosell waits to emerge victorious from his lawsuit against the State.

Laporta wants to return to the presidency

Meanwhile, who was his predecessor in the Barcelona presidency, Joan Laporta, intends to return to office . This was expressed in an interview with Gol who was the Barça's top president between 2003 and 2010, years in which the first soccer team won, among other titles, two Champions and four Leagues.

"It is a project that makes me excited. I am bringing together people and professionals I trust because you have to think carefully about how to reverse the economic situation of the club," admitted Laporta, who charged against the management of the current government of Josep Maria Bartomeu: "The Barça is the club of the 3,000 million: 1,000 of income, 1,000 of expenses and 1,000 of debt " . The lawyer and former politician already tried to regain the presidency in the last elections of July 2015. He was then defeated by Bartomeu, who brought together 54.63% by 33.03% of Laporta.

The Barcelona elections, which Bartomeu will no longer be able to attend since the Statutes do not allow more than two consecutive terms, are completely uncertain. They should be held at the gates of the summer of 2021 and, beyond the candidacy of businessman Víctor Font -with Xavi Hernández as a great endorsement- and the firm intention of Joan Laporta, there are still pre-candidates to go out into the ring.

The one who was to be the leader of the continuation candidacy, Emili Rousaud , was forced to resign by Bartomeu and now, while denouncing alleged corrupt practices encompassed in the so-called Barçagate , he is also preparing the way for a hypothetical assault. The current Barça president, in any case, has already piled up men close to Sandro Rosell in the most important positions of his directive, in a clear electoral movement.

It remains to attend to the classic insistence of Agustí Benedito , habitual in electoral processes, and to the intentions of Toni Freixa , who has been working the environment since he presented his candidacy in 2015.

The Barcelona presidency, that dark object of desire. And with an unparalleled power of attraction.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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