Football Referee Committee
Law enforcement officials in Spain conducted a search at the national football referee committee’s headquarters on Thursday.
Authorities are investigating payments made by Barcelona, one of Spain’s prominent football clubs, to a company owned by a former committee official, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Barcelona paid millions of euros to Negreira’s company between 2001 and 2018.
Suspicions arise that Negreira, a former vice president of the Spanish football refereeing committee, received these payments to influence referee decisions.
The Barcelona court overseeing the case ordered the search of the committee’s headquarters “as part of the investigation into the questionable payments made by the Catalan club” to Negreira, according to a statement from the regional court oversight body.
The Guardia Civil police force, responsible for the search at the football federation’s headquarters in Las Rozas, a Madrid suburb, does not anticipate making immediate arrests, according to a spokesperson.
In March, Spanish prosecutors formally charged Barcelona, along with two former club presidents, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, as well as Negreira and his son, Javier Enriquez Negreira, with corruption in connection to this matter.
The investigation began when Spain’s tax authorities detected irregularities in tax payments made by Negreira’s company, Dasnil 95, between 2016 and 2018. It was reported that Dasnil 95 received payments from Barcelona during these years.
While Barcelona claims they paid Dasnil 95 for advising the club on refereeing-related matters, prosecutors suspect the funds may have improperly influenced match officials.
