Real Madrid will be a private accusation against FC Barcelona in the Negreira case. The judge in charge of the case, Silvia López MejÃa, has accepted the appearance of the white club in the case on the alleged payment of bribes to the former number two of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) on the understanding that it could have been harmed. This means that the club chaired by Florentino Pérez will be able to participate in the legal proceedings, having direct access to the documentation, participating in the interrogations of the accused, requesting the taking of evidence and, ultimately, requesting some penalties for those investigated, among where FC Barcelona is.
The judge recognizes the “legitimate interest” of Real Madrid to participate as a victim of the judicial process. “The facts investigated refer to certain actions by people linked to FC Barcelona tending to favor said club in the decision-making of the referees and, in this way, in the results of the competition,” the order underlines. And he adds that any club, such as Real Madrid, “has a direct interest in ensuring that no acts of any kind occur that involve sporting manipulation in such a way that the result of the competition can be illegally altered.” This decision opens the door for the rest of the League clubs to appear in the case. Many of them abstained because there were already people under the umbrella of the Professional Football League (LFP).
Real Madrid demanded that the judge be able to appear as a private prosecution in the Negreira case, alleging that they had felt harmed by said action and claiming an “indisputable interest” in favor of “cleaning up the sports competition in which they participate”. The Prosecutor’s Office supported said appearance.
FC Barcelona presented a document before the judge opposing the appearance as an accusation by Real Madrid. He argued that the white club lacked legitimacy since it had not been “neither offended nor harmed” by the actions of the Barça club and considering that in the event that there was an injured party, this role would correspond to the League as organizer of the competition. He argued that the role that Real Madrid assumes in ensuring the cleanliness of the competition is already exercised by the LFP.
On the other hand, the magistrate has rejected the inclusion in the Negreira case of the Higher Sports Council since she considers that she does not have the status of injured party since it is not her responsibility to ensure the cleanliness of the competition.
The Investigating Court number 1 of Barcelona investigates the Negreira case after accepting a complaint from the referee Xavier Estrada Fernández and a complaint from the Prosecutor’s Office after warning that FC Barcelona paid 7.3 million euros to the vice president of the CTA for 17 years. José MarÃa EnrÃquez Negreira, former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep MarÃa Bartomeu are being investigated in the case; the club’s former executives, Ã’scar Grau and Albert Soler, as well as FC Barcelona as a legal entity.
