Barca was accused of transferring $1.5 million to the referee
Cadena SER reported exclusively on the afternoon of February 15, that the Barcelona prosecutor's office was investigating the company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. Mr. Negreira served as vice-chairman of the Council of Referees (CTA) of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) from 1994 to 2018.
The investigation revealed that he received money from Barca three times, about $ 570,000 in 2016, $ 580,000 in 2017 and $ 340,000 in 2018, a total of $ 1.5 million and were not included in the financial statements of the team.
The tax authorities said that the above amounts were unusual, when the referee Negreira failed to provide any documents about providing services to Barca. Meanwhile, he explained to Cadena SER that "his job with Barca is oral consultation so there is no documentation, on things like how players should behave in front of referees". He also affirmed that he was never biased towards Barca about the assignment of referees to catch the match of this team.
Negreira owns the company DASNIL, and his son Javier Enríquez Romero is the sole manager. While Mr. Negreira said there was no documentation to prove he had worked as a consultant for Barca, Mr. Romero said he had sent specific reports to the team on several occasions.
Negreira, Romero and Barca directors all had to give explanations at the prosecutor's office. Barca leaders said they paid DASNIL based on reports received from Romero, and then transferred it to the coaching staff of Barca teams. After Mr. Negreira quit as CTA vice president, Barca only transferred another 7,900 USD in 2019 and then stopped.
Immediately after the news of Cadena SER, Barca issued a statement on the homepage, not denying these funds. However, they consider consulting jobs like Mr. Negreira's normal. Barca said that this information was given to destabilize the team, and they will sue those who "detractors about the purpose of these payments".
Barca is leading La Liga with 56 points from 21 matches, 11 points more than Real Madrid. President Joan Laporta declined to comment on Mr. Negreira's case. In the period 2016-2018, Barca president was Josep Maria Bartomeu - who was investigated in March 2021 for the Barcagate scandal.
Bartomeu said he stopped paying DASNIL as part of the team's cost-cutting campaign. He also said that these funds existed at least since 2003. Barca president from 2010-2014 Sandro Rosell also confirmed this information. Former Vice President Joan Gaspart said the payments were not recorded in the financial statements.
Negreira worked as a referee in Spain from 1975-1992, then became the Vice President of the CTA. According to the RFEF's rules, the CTA has powers such as classifying referees based on skill, transferring referees between tournaments, and assigning referees to match-by-match duties.
