The Prosecutors have finally accused La Liga giants Barcelona formally of corruption owing to their payments over several years to some unknown company that belong to the country’s refereeing committee’s vice president.
This decision was made official on Friday after the report was made by Spanish newspapers. The decision is apparently now upon an investigating judge to decide if the accusations will be leading to any charges.
Barcelona charged for corruption to referees
FC Barcelona had been under the radar of scrutiny ever since their payments which involved millions had gone public. These payments had earlier been investigated already under a tax probe into the company.
Three accusations were issued by prosecutors including fraudulent management and corruption in sports. Another one of the accusations were related to the falsification of mercantile documentation.
Barcelona, however, have continuously denying any sort of wrong doing and conflict of interest and that stated that the payment was made for technical reports on the referees and it had nothing to do with their influence on decision making within the game.
Prosecutors accuse Barcelona for corruption
It has been a common practice to get reports and information on referees, and clubs have been paying companies or preparing them internally for a long time, just like Barcelona now is doing.
According to the media reports, the payments made by Barcelona are worth more than a total of 7 million euros ($7.5 million), and claim that they started long back in 2001.
Club’s current president, Laporta is not being accused by the prosecutors for any involvement and has claimed denial in anything. The accusations are presented against Barcelona the club, Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, Enriquez and former Barcelona executives Óscar Grau and Albert Soler.
