A Spanish court docket stated that soccer big Barcelona could have benefited for nearly 20 years from “possible systemic corruption” inside the nation’s refereeing committee, court docket paperwork seen by Reuters confirmed on Tuesday.
Investigating decide Joaquin Aguirre Lopez stated he believed that some other LaLiga crew that competed in opposition to Barcelona between 2001 and 2018 – when the membership made alleged funds to an organization owned by a senior refereeing official – could have been harmed by the alleged scheme and will take authorized motion.
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In March, prosecutors filed a criticism over alleged funds of greater than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) over 17 years to corporations owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was vice-president of the soccer federation’s refereeing committee (CTA) from 1993 to 2018.
Barca’s arch-rival Real Madrid had joined the prosecution within the lawsuit as a broken celebration.
“It is presumed by pure logic that FC Barcelona would not pay vice-president Negreira around 7 million euros since 2001 if they were not benefited by him,” Aguirre stated in Tuesday’s ruling rejecting Barca’s enchantment in opposition to Real Madrid’s participation within the criticism.
Other first-division groups may doubtlessly have been harmed as effectively, he stated, if confirmed that the CTA assigned referees to sure matches based on standards unrelated to their technical qualities.
Reuters has been unable to achieve Negreira. Barcelona and Real Madrid weren’t instantly out there for remark.
“In any case, we are facing a novel form of possible illegitimate retribution for football referees,” he added.
According to the decide, Negreira was accountable for rating and evaluating the referees. However, no proof has been discovered to this point of Negreira paying referees to affect match outcomes, Aguirre stated.
The court docket additionally opened a separate case to research alleged cash laundering by Negreira, his son and the community of firms by which Barcelona’s alleged funds had been made.
In an announcement in February, Barcelona denied any wrongdoing, saying it had paid an exterior advisor who provided it with “technical reports related to professional refereeing”. It was a standard follow amongst skilled soccer golf equipment, they stated.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com