• Scandal Negreira used Barça's money to give referees tickets, hams, cards and even sandwich makers
  • Barcelona Negreira withdrew up to 20,000 euros per month in cash while collecting from Barcelona

The 'Negreira Case', the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish football, continues to star in the day-to-day of the media landscape and on Wednesday night had a new turning point with the broadcast of the special 'En boca de todos', in Cuatro. Produced by Mandarina and hosted by Manu Carreño and Diego Losada, the special program has had much of the investigative work around the case published by Esteban Urreiztieta, deputy director of EL MUNDO, and the editor-in-chief Orfeo Suárez.

Both journalists were part of the gathering that accompanied the images and videos of the complete chronology of the case, developed by this newspaper during the last weeks and that is summarized in the payment of more than 7 million euros from Barcelona to the vice president of the referees of Spanish football. In the program, Negreira's first words since the controversy broke out were also broadcast: "I'm in the movies," he said when he was found in Alicante, in a tracksuit while going to an appointment with the Treasury. At his side was defended by a friend who addressed the Cuatro reporter with insults and contempt: "Leave it, pussy, leave it now. Fuck you, you have the balls," he replied.

According to Orfeo Suárez, this person would be Hernández Pérez, "a former referee who made reports in the fields of Hercules, Elche and teams in the area, accompanied referees, took them to dinner ... I did a job similar to what Negreira's son later did taking the referees to the Camp Nou."

"Where are the millions?"

Suárez and Urreiztieta, the journalists who know the case best, detailed the ins and outs of the scandal: "In an inspection, the Tax Agency realizes that there are no services provided. Barcelona has paid 50,000 euros per month to the number 2 of the referees... And he wonders, why?" explains Urreiztieta. "The big question is: Where are those 7 million that Negreira took? Payments to referees, bribes to third parties, sports betting?" asks Suarez. "One day he takes out 170,000 euros in cash, as much as you like champagne is a lot of money. That's where the suspicions begin."

Next to them was Joan Lluis García, journalist of RAC 1 who warned that "this information can lead to problems in the financing of Espai Barça. One of the problems is that Barcelona has not given any explanation." Also the journalists María Jamardo, Irene Junquera and Vanesa de Lucio.

The origins of the Negreira Case date back to the 90s and the presidency of Josep Lluís Núñez in Barcelona. "I think it comes from that time. But Núñez was the smartest in the class, leaving no trace. Of course, nobody resigns here...", admits Augusto César Lendoiro, former president of Deportivo de La Coruña. "Ramón Mendoza and Jesús Gil were already complaining about Negreira at that time," adds Orfeo Suárez. "The documentary trail begins in 2001 with Gaspart and Laporta triggers the payments without any justification," reports Esteban Urreiztieta. "Five presidents, Núñez, Gaspart, Laporta, Rosell and Bartomeu paying 7 million euros? They are culés, not fools", reflects Tomás Guasch. "I don't know if it's ethical, but it's botched," says Toni Freixa, a former Barça manager.

"An elderly person controlled by their partner"

The program also had the participation of Francisco Marco, from Metodo 3, in charge of locating Negreira. "He leads a retired life, he has nothing to his name. Everything is in his wife's name. We received a tip that he was in Alicante and that one day he would be in Barcelona. We found him in a central apartment in Barcelona and then he went to Alicante, "he detailed, before explaining the influence of his partner in his day to day: "The woman holds all the goods. It is an elderly person who is controlled by their partner. He doesn't have a cell phone. She is the one who changes her motive and controls her wealth."

Those who knew Negreira best analyzed his attitudes during the last decades. "He created fear," says former referee Sergi Albert Giménez: "He liked to show that he had economic power. The money has gone into someone's pocket. I'm sure." "I didn't know the name of the referees and that bothered people," confesses Medina Cantalejo, current president of the CTA.

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  • FC Barcelona
  • Negreira Case