Once it was discovered that Barcelona had made repeated payments to a former refereeing chief’s company, La Liga president Javier Tebas ruled on Thursday that no sports punishment should be brought against the club.
Former vice-president of the officiating technical committee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira’s company received payments totaling 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) from Barcelona, which he claimed was compensation for giving the team verbal guidance on referee-related matters.
Tebas said despite conflict of interest regulations being breached, Barcelona would not be punished in a sporting sense, although they may still face private prosecution.
“We must clarify from the outset, we have already looked into it — it is not possible to impose sporting disciplinary sanctions because five years have already passed,” said Tebas in a video published by La Liga Thursday.
He said that sanctions were only possible within three years of the events having occurred.
The public prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP it is carrying out investigations into the matter, but did not give further details.
The La Liga team said they had a prior agreement with a “external provider” for technical reports advising them on refereeing issues.
Tebas said that Negreira should not have rendered any services to Barcelona and that the club should not have paid him.
“(Punishment under) criminal jurisdiction is another issue,” added Tebas.
“Now the prosecutor’s office is investigating the events that occurred and whether there may be a possible crime of corruption between individuals.”
The officiating technical committee (CTA) and Barcelona have been questioned by the Spanish Football Federation about the payments.
As a result of discrepancies in tax payments made between 2016 and 2018 by the company Dasnil 95, which was controlled by Negreira, a vice-president of the CTA from 1994 to 2018, the investigation was launched.
Dasnil 95 reportedly received payments from Barcelona between those years.
The last invoice, according to Cadena Ser radio, was issued in June 2018. After that the CTA was restructured and Enriquez Negreira left the organisation.
Josep Maria Bartomeu, then-president of Barca, told reporters the club had decided to dispense with these services in order to cut costs.
Negreira — who refereed in La Liga between 1977-1992 — denied that he had given any favourable treatment to the club.
