The president of the Professional Soccer League, Javier Tebas, sent the Prosecutor’s Office a letter in the case about payments to the arbitration vice president, José MarÃa EnrÃquez Negreira, directly implicating two former presidents of Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, in alleged crimes of unfair administration and misappropriation, based on a handwritten document of a deceased former manager. The document was included in another different case, in the so-called Soule case that investigates the alleged diversion of funds from the Spanish Federation chaired by Ãngel MarÃa Villar and in which the League appears as an accusation. Tebas personally linked names or surnames that appeared in that document directly with the two former presidents and from this he deduced that they could be involved in operations with real estate and movements in “financial institutions and investment banks.” The problem is that the family of the deceased manager, Josep Contreras, has clarified the true identity of the people mentioned in the document and that they have nothing to do with the former presidents of Barça.
The document delivered to the prosecution on February 22, signed personally by Tebas, is not limited to providing the documentation and goes so far as to point out theories about who the names and surnames appearing in the Contreras manuscript refer to. The problem is that those theories and speculations did not coincide with reality.
The president of the League defends that he acts objectively and seems to distance himself from any hint of accusation. “Neither is this part speculative in any way, nor does this document imply the exercise of a specific accusation against anyone.” Although he immediately stated that “we consider that the names and surnames entered in the handwritten note may coincide with the names and/or surnames of certain former FCB executives (…)
Next, it states that “with the name “Román” accompanied by the word “lawyer”, a reference could be made to Román Gómez Ponti, former head of the legal services of the FCB (…) It is not possible to ignore that the last name ” Rosell†is the same as that of the former FCB president between 2010 and 2014, just as the name “Josep Maria†coincides with that of the also former FCB president Josep Maria Bartomeu Floreta, who was FCB chief executive between 2014 and 2020 â€.
In reality, as the family of the deceased has clarified, the document was written decades ago and the names indicated by Thebes refer to Emilio Román, Contreras’ lawyer; Ramon Rosell, accountant of his companies; and Josep MarÃa was an employee of Banca Catalana responsible for the accounts of the deceased in the entity.
Finally, Tebas concludes that “of the documentation provided in this document, and that other that the media indicate would already be available to this Prosecutor’s Office, it is by no means disposable (…) other crimes such as unfair administration or misappropriation (…)â€. The president of the League urges the prosecution to act immediately because “compliance with the limitation period for the alleged and hypothetical crimes could be close.”
The Prosecutor’s Office denounced Barça and its two former presidents, as well as some executives, on March 10 for three continuous crimes of corruption between individuals in the sports field, unfair administration and commercial falsehood. But he ruled out the misappropriation raised by Thebes in the letter he sent to the Prosecutor’s Office. The public ministry began its investigation on May 5, 2022 after receiving a report from the Tax Agency that warned of possible crimes in the payments that FC Barcelona made to Negreira between 2014 and 2018 since everything paid in the period above would be prescribed. The Treasury raised its suspicions about the 7.5 million that number two of the arbitrators received between 2001 and 2018 and that “did not respond to an accredited economic activity” with which it warned that “it could be covering up illegal services” and paying third parties . The report included Negreira’s testimony that he said he had received payments from Barça to guarantee the neutrality of the referees and that the club would not be harmed. The Treasury investigation, however, clarified that it found no evidence that payments had been made to the referees or that the competition had been altered. Even so, the Prosecutor’s Office added in its complaint that there were indications that Barça paid Negreira to “carry out actions aimed at favoring the FCB in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the Club.”
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The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, sent the Prosecutor’s Office a letter for the case on payments to the arbitration vice president, José MarÃa EnrÃquez Negreira, directly pointing to two former presidents of Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, in alleged crimes of unfair administration and misappropriation, based on a handwritten document of a deceased former director.
In his letter, Thebes directly related names or surnames that appeared in that document with the two former presidents and from this he deduced that they could be involved in operations with real estate and movements in “financial institutions and investment banks.” But the family of the deceased manager, Josep Contreras, has clarified the true identity of the people mentioned in the document and that they have nothing to do with the former presidents, as has been published in Mundo Deportivo and La Vanguardia.
The letter to the Prosecutor’s Office, dated February 22, personally signed by Thebes, is not limited to providing the documentation, it points out theories about who the names and surnames that appear in the Contreras manuscript refer to. The problem is that these theories and speculations are not true.
In his appearance in the case, the president of LaLiga assures that “neither this party has any speculative spirit nor does this document imply the exercise of a specific accusation against anyone”. Despite this, he points out that “we consider that the names and surnames entered in the handwritten note may coincide with the names and/or surnames of certain former FCB executives (…)”
He then points out that “with the name Román accompanied by the word lawyer, one could be referring to Román Gómez Ponti, former head of the legal services of the FCB (…) It is not possible to ignore that the surname Rosell coincides with that of the former president of FCB between 2010 and 2014, just as the name of Josep Maria coincides with that of Josep Maria Bartomeu, also former president of FCB, who was FCB’s chief executive between 2014 and 2020â€.
In reality, as the family of the deceased has clarified, the document was written decades ago and the names indicated by Thebes refer to Emilio Román, Contreras’ lawyer; Ramon Rosell, accountant of his companies; and Josep MarÃa was an employee of Banca Catalana responsible for the accounts of the deceased in the entity.
In fact, Contreras’s references to Banca Mas Sarda or Banca Catalana, the first dissolved in 1989 and the second in 2000, already indicated that the preparation of the document was long before the arrival of Rosell and Bartomeu to the presidency of Barça.
Finally, Tebas concludes that “of the documentation provided in this document, and that other that the media indicate would already be available to this Prosecutor’s Office, it is by no means disposable (…) other crimes such as unfair administration or misappropriation (…)â€. The president of LaLiga urges the Prosecutor’s Office to act immediately, since “compliance with the limitation period for the alleged and hypothetical crimes could be close.”
The document sent by Thebes was part of another different case, called Soule, which investigates the alleged diversion of funds from the Spanish Federation chaired by Ãngel MarÃa Villar and in which LaLiga appears as an accusation. To questions from this newspaper, LaLiga has stated that in his writing he limited himself to highlighting the coincidences of names, which could be the people targeted, so that the Prosecutor’s Office would take them into consideration, but that no assessment or accusation was made . Likewise, they have ruled out assessing the reaction of the Contreras family.
The Prosecutor’s Office denounced Barça on March 10 and included its two former presidents, as well as some executives, for three continuous crimes of corruption between individuals in the sports field, unfair administration and commercial falsehood. But he ruled out the misappropriation raised by Thebes in his writing.
The public ministry began its investigation on May 5, 2022 after receiving a report from the Tax Agency warning of possible crimes in the payments that FC Barcelona made to Negreira. The Treasury raised its suspicions about the 7.5 million that number two of the arbitrators received between 2001 and 2018, and that “they did not respond to an accredited economic activity”, with which it warned that “it could be covering up illegal services”. and paying third parties.
The report included the testimony of Negreira, who said he had received the payments to guarantee the neutrality of the referees and that the club was not harmed. The Treasury clarified that it found no evidence that payments to the referees had been made or the competition had been altered. Even so, the Prosecutor’s Office added in its complaint that there were indications that Barça paid Negreira to carry out “actions tending to favor the FCB in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club.”
LaLiga is a sports association under private law that brings together and represents the clubs that participate in professional football competitions.
