Last Updated: April 17, 2023, 18:16 IST
Joan Laporta claims the allegations are a part of a smear marketing campaign towards Barca. (AFP Photo)
Last month Spanish prosecutors charged the Catalan membership with corruption after funds of greater than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) to an organization owned by a former refereeing chief have been uncovered earlier this 12 months
Barcelona “haven’t dedicated any crime” or tried to “obtain some type of sporting advantage,” the membership’s president Joan Laporta stated Monday amid investigations into funds made to a former refereeing chief.
“Obviously referees weren’t purchased and there was no try to affect their selections,” Laporta told a press conference called to discuss the affair at the club’s Camp Nou stadium.
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Last month Spanish prosecutors charged the Catalan club with corruption after payments of more than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) to a company owned by a former refereeing chief were uncovered earlier this year.
Barcelona say they paid Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former referee and ex-vice president of the refereeing committee of the Spanish football federation (CTA) between 1994 and 2018, for reports and advice related to refereeing.
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Barcelona ceased its payments in 2018 due to Negreira’s departure from the CTA, according to Spanish prosecutors.
The club “has never done anything with the goal or intention of altering the competition to achieve some type of sporting advantage,” Laporta stated.
He referred to as the allegations of wrongdoing a part of a smear marketing campaign towards the Catalan facet, who’re high of La Liga.
“Basically it’s an orchestrated marketing campaign to destroy the popularity of FC Barcelona,” Laporta said.
Laporta recalled that Spain’s tax office sent a letter to prosecutors stating that “it has not been able to demonstrate that the payments made to Negreira’s companies could have influenced the referees or the result of any match.”
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“They couldn’t present it as a result of it was not doable,” he added.
The scandal first broke following inspections from the tax office into Negreira’s accounts.
Barcelona have argued the payments were for advice from referees and other services, a position reaffirmed by Laporta who said they were all legal and documented.
“Some services were provided. They were documented. There were invoices, payments registered in the accounting books. There was no crime of corruption,” he stated.
“We like to win by taking part in effectively. We don’t like to win due to refereeing.”
As well as the club and Enriquez Negreira, two of the club’s former presidents, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, are facing the same charge of corruption.
La Liga president Javier Tebas has said Spanish football is enduring its “worst” ever second due to the refereeing corruption case involving Barcelona.
“The popularity of our soccer is at stake. I’m ashamed. We haven’t any rationalization from Barcelona,” he added last month.
Laporta has previously criticised Tebas for “pushing a campaign” towards him.
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