Esteban Urreiztieta
Cristina Rubio Barcelona
Barcelona
Updated Monday, March 18, 2024-22:25
Political connections Laporta, Puigdemont and an act of clear hostility
First anniversary Negreira says privately that he distributed money at Barça
José María Enríquez Negreira
is summoned today before the investigating judge
Joaquin Aguirre
, for the payments of almost eight million euros that he received over the years from Barcelona.
Charged with unfair administration, bribery, document falsification and sports corruption, the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) will take advantage of his right not to testify at the hearing.
Specifically, and as this newspaper has learned, his defense will insist that he is not in a position to do so in the interrogation that is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. in the City of Justice.
An argument that Negreira already put forward months ago, who said that he suffered cognitive deterioration - a beginning of Alzheimer's - that made him unable to face the criminal process.
However, the judge summoned him after concluding that, despite suffering some memory impairment, he retains the mental faculties to stand trial.
All after an examination at the
Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine
ordered by the magistrate himself.
Negreira's appearance has been delayed up to two times at the request of the defense of the former vice president of the referees: first, it was to be on February 21; then, on March 8.
In the end, it ended up being scheduled a month later than planned.
So far, Negreira has only testified before the
Tax Agency
, where he assured that Barcelona paid him almost eight million euros over 17 years to ensure that the arbitrations "were neutral."
The RFEF, private accusation
Regarding the news of the case, yesterday it was learned that the Court of Barcelona has ordered the admission of the
Royal Spanish Football Federation
(RFEF) as a private prosecutor in the case investigating Barcelona's payments to Negreira.
In an order made public yesterday, section 21 of the court upholds the appeal presented by the RFEF when the investigating judge rejected the entity from being part of the case, a decision that was supported by both the Prosecutor's Office and the Barça club.
The Court of Instruction 1 of Barcelona, responsible for the ongoing investigation, justified its decision in that the RFEF exercises public functions under the supervision of the
Higher Sports Council
(CSD), which in turn depends on the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and considered that the Federation is not authorized to appear as a popular accusation.
On the other hand, the RFEF argued that as a private entity, "its status as an offended party offers no room for doubt," and therefore believes that it is necessary for it to be qualified to be a popular accusation, because it could be presented as a popular accusation.
The judges of the Barcelona Court take into account that in this alleged crime of corruption in sport "the protected legal good was fair play in the practice of sport", an area that corresponds to the RFEF.
"If the behaviors that are being investigated occurred, and that is what is being investigated, they must necessarily have had an impact on the development of the sporting events, since they sought to alter their results or obtain more favorable arbitrations." , the magistrates point out, before concluding that the RFEF is indeed entitled to act as a private prosecutor.
Laporta and the alleged bribery
In addition to Negreira and Barcelona, the current president of the Barça club,
Joan Laporta
, and the former leaders
Sandro Rosell
and
Josep Maria Bartomeu
are accused in the case .
The former arbitration leader is the first summoned to testify before the instructor for the million-dollar payments that he received between 2001 and 2018.
The Court must soon decide whether, in addition to the crimes of sports corruption and unfair administration, it notices the crime of bribery, indicated by Judge Aguirre and by which Laporta is being investigated.
The Public Ministry has opposed this accusation and has aligned itself with the defenses to request that Laporta be removed from the summary investigating the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish football.
In parallel, Aguirre has extended the investigation for six months.