The Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” has blown up a new surprise in the bribery case at Barcelona and the former vice-chairman of the refereeing committee, José María Enriquez Negrera.
The newspaper published a burfax that Negrera sent in 2018 to then-Barcelona president Josep María Bartomeu and his threat to expose all wrongdoing.
And the newspaper added: “After Barcelona stopped paying him money to get arbitration advice, Negrera sent his threat to Bartomeu.”
And the text of Negrera Bartomeu’s threat came: “If there is no agreement, all violations of the Catalan club that have taken place will remain without consideration. I do not think that another scandal will benefit Barca.
The report states that Barcelona’s total payments to the former deputy chairman of the refereeing committee since 2001 amounted to 6 million 659 thousand 448 euros, excluding value added tax.
For his part, Spanish Football League president Javier Tebas said on Thursday that no sporting sanctions could be imposed on Barcelona in a sporting sense, despite violating conflict of interest rules.
Tebas said in a video released by La Liga on Thursday: “We have to make it clear from the start that we have discussed this matter, that it is not possible to impose sports disciplinary sanctions because five years have passed.”
He believed that sanctions could only be imposed within three years of the events taking place.
And he added: “(Punishment under) criminal jurisdiction is another matter,” and “the prosecutor’s office is now investigating the events that have occurred and a possible corruption crime between individuals.”
In turn, Barcelona defended itself by saying that it previously had a contract with an “outside provider” for technical reports related to professional arbitration.
Source: “Wakalat”
