Barcelona President And Spanish Referee’s Body Deny Allegations Amidst The Bribe Scandal
After a tax investigation of the former Vice-President of the Referees Committee, Enriquez Negreira, it was found that Barcelona had been paying him for a period of 17 years, with the total fee rising up to €6.7 million.
Reportedly, the sum paid for getting reports on how referees behaved and scouting reports, but as many have pointed out, the reason for such high fees is yet far from clear. Speaking at a luncheon with Mundo Deportivo Editor Santi Nolla, Laporta strenuously denied those claims.
Laporta Denies The Allegations as False.
Speaking to the editor, Laporta said “We have prepared a press conference to talk about this topic, but today I had this lunch. Let it be clear that Barca has never bought referees nor had the intention to buy referees. Absolutely never. The forcefulness of the facts contradicts those who try to change the story. We are doing well again, nothing is accidental.”
He has promised that all will be explained in the press conference, as was the case last week. However, there remains little certainty on the matter until that explanation comes out – provided it is a sufficient one. Laporta’s final words are an allusion to La Liga President Javier Tebas, who he feels has a campaign against Barcelona.
Referee’s Body Unitedly Claims To Be Clean As Well.
Spain’s referees gathered in Madrid on Thursday to defend their profession in the wake of a scandal involving Barcelona’s payment of millions of dollars over several years to a former referee then acting as their vice president.
“We want to make clear that no one has more at stake than we do in assuring that justice is served,” referee José Sánchez read from the manifesto in the name of the entire body of the football match officials. The manifesto hoped that the “alleged acts by a person that in his time formed part of this house won’t stain our image and the honor of this great body.”
Several hundred active and former referees and referee assistants attended the first news conference given by the Spanish Football Federation since the scandal was broken by Spain’s Cadena SER radio station on Feb. 15.
