The Civil Guard searched the headquarters of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in Las Rozas on Thursday for the ‘Negreira case’.FERNANDO VILLAR (EFE)
The Negreira case, which investigates the million-dollar payments by FC Barcelona to former arbitration vice president José María Enríquez Negreira, explores new routes and advances towards unexplored places. The veteran Barcelona judge leading the case, Joaquín Aguirre, has made two important decisions to get to the bottom of a matter for which Barça has been unable, for now, to give a reasonable explanation. Given the doubts that the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) was providing all the required documentation, the magistrate has ordered the Civil Guard to register its headquarters. For 12 hours, the agents searched on Thursday for documentation that would support the alleged influence that, as vice president for 25 years of the Technical Arbitration Committee (CTA), Negreira could have had on the fate of the Spanish referees. The judge has also changed the procedural direction of the investigation by considering that the facts are no longer a crime of corruption in the field of sport, but rather a crime of bribery.
Why has the judge changed the criminal classification? It is a technical-legal criterion. After analyzing scientific literature and jurisprudence, Aguirre considers that the Barça club’s payments (seven million euros between 2001 and 2018, all during Negreira’s mandate) represent a crime of bribery. The argument is that, as number two of the Spanish referees in the RFEF, Negreira carried out a public function and should be equated, at least in the criminal field, with an official. The judge admits that the RFEF is a private entity; but not, he insists, in the sphere of criminal justice. And he adds that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the bribery has already been committed, regardless of whether, later, the Civil Guard may find evidence on whether or not specific matches were fixed or whether the will of certain referees was bought. Although it does not close the door to the possibility that, if a higher body (the Barcelona Court) considers it, the case can be prosecuted for corruption between individuals, it points out that this crime does not refer “neither directly nor indirectly” to the directors of the federation that organizes the competition, as was Negreira.
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What does the Prosecutor’s Office think? The facts being investigated are identical to those investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office for months; What has changed is the type of crime. The Prosecutor’s Office initially filed a complaint against Negreira father and son and against former Barça directors for a crime of corruption between individuals in the sporting field, which punishes those responsible for a club or “athletes, referees or judges” who carry out conduct to fraudulently alter the result of the competitions. Asked by this newspaper about the change that the judge has made in the case, the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office has avoided taking a position. A spokesperson recalls that “the judge is in charge of the investigation of the procedure” and that, when this is concluded, the prosecutor and the rest of the accused “will decide to file charges” for the crime they consider “or request that the procedure be archived.” The same spokesperson points out that the complaint marks the beginning of the process but “in no way prevents the subsequent expansion of both the facts and the people against whom the procedure is directed.”
What consequences does the change in classification have? The change to a crime of bribery means, from the outset, that in the event that a trial goes to trial, those who would decide on the guilt or innocence of the defendants would be a popular jury, that is, nine citizens. Bribery is one of the crimes contemplated by the Jury Law. Although bribery covers various articles of the Penal Code depending on the type and severity (and the judge has not opted for any for now), the prison sentences provided are more serious than those for corruption between individuals: the range is between three and six years in prison.
Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, in an archive image from 2019. SAMUEL SÁNCHEZ
Could President Joan Laporta end up being charged? The sources consulted see it as difficult, although they admit that it is not entirely clear. During his first term as president of Barça (2003-2010), payments continued to be made to Negreira and his amount was even increased. If the initial investigation of the Prosecutor’s Office (which dates back to 2022) is taken as a reference, Laporta’s first stage is ruled out by statute of limitations, although it is true that it remains to be seen what type of bribery (of those included in the Penal Code, and with different levels of prescription) is finally imposed. The same sources highlight another circumstance: in his order, Judge Aguirre omits to mention Laporta and only attributes the status of being investigated to the two former presidents who were already under investigation, and who succeeded the lawyer as president: Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu.
What consequences could there be for Barça? FC Barcelona is investigated in the case (now for bribery) as a legal entity. If convicted, the crime of bribery could face a fine, but also a penalty of disqualification. The latter is identical to that in the case of corruption in sports. The law provides that entities convicted of any of these crimes may be punished with a wide range of measures: fines, dissolution of the legal entity, suspension of activities for a maximum period of five years, closure of premises and establishments for a maximum of five years, prohibition from carrying out activities “in the exercise of which” the crime was committed, disqualification from obtaining public aid and judicial intervention “to safeguard the rights of workers or creditors”, again for a period not exceeding five years . The experts consulted consider that, even if there is a final conviction, the most likely scenario is that Barça will have to pay a fine; all of this, regardless of whether international organizations, such as UEFA, decide or not to sanction the club.
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2023-09-29 14:14:41
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