Barcelona ‘charged with BRIBERY’ as Spanish champions face Champions League ban over referee payments
BARCELONA could be banned from the Champions League after being charged with allegedly bribing referees.
Back in March, SunSport reported the Catalan giants could be axed from Europe’s elite competition if they are found guilty.
Now Spanish outlet El Debate are reporting that judge Joaquin Aguirre has accused Barcelona of bribery.
This relates to £6million in payments to Jose Maria Enruquez Negreira – former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees.
Ex-Barcelona presidents Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell have both been charged, along with Negreira and his son Javier Enriquez Romero.
The LaLiga champions are accused of breaching a law which bans officials from receiving reward for their performances of public duties.
The Supreme Court have classified Negreira as an individual who was performing a public function.
The charges allege that Negreira was given cash through a shell company set up by ex-Barcelona director Josep Contreras.
It is also alleged Contreras earned 50 per cent commission from this transaction.
Former ref Alberto Gimenez has also accused Negreira of labelling him a “chicken” in a “secret match-fixing meeting”.
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He told RadioMarca: “Negreira pressured me. He met me with other referees and told me: ‘Hey chicken, be careful with what you say on television. You already understand me. Be careful’.
“There is a formula for fixing matches. It’s a fool’s trap: I’m a friend of ‘such and such’ who will support you, you give me so much and I’ll fix it for you.
“If the result is negative, the money is returned. If he wins, he is marked for life. If he loses and returns the money, he has another chance.”
LaLiga president Javier Tebas previously urged Barca president Laporta to explain the situation.
The club’s vice-president, Rafael Yuste, then claimed they had hired a law firm to begin an investigation.
Yuste also claimed the payments to Negreira’s Dasnil company ended in 2018.
One of the potential punishments for Barcelona includes a Champions League ban.
The Spanish side have not won the competition since 2015 and were eliminated in the group stage in each of the past two seasons.