February 15, (THEWILL) – It has been revealed that Barcelona reportedly paid €1.4m to a company owned by the former Vice-President of Spanish football’s Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, from 2016 to 2018.
Enriquez Negreira held that position from 1994 to 2018, with his company, DASNIL 95 SL profiting from Barcelona until the later date. The payments have come to light due to an investigation into the company’s tax affairs and alleged irregularities regarding the three years in question. It is suggested Enriquez Negreira, provided no documentation proving he gave service to Barcelona, as he was offering verbal advice on how players should behave in front of each referee they might face.
Former Barcelona President, Josep Maria Bartomeu, has suggested such reports were already being delivered when he first arrived at the club in 2003, and that payments were ended in 2018, as part of cost-cutting exercises. Joan Gaspart, President from 2000 until 2003, denied any knowledge while current President, Joan Laporta, declined to comment then but has since. Barcelona stated that the club had contracted the services of an external consultant for reports on players from youth categories of the Spanish state.
The Technical Committee of Referees appears to have taken a more dim view of the apparent relationship between Barcelona and Enriquez Negreira. Meanwhile, Enriquez Negreira told Cadena SER that he never favoured Barcelona in any way and insisted to the tax agency that what he did was ‘always neutral’. But he has also admitted he exclusively advised Barcelona, rather than working with a number of clubs in similar ways.
The CTA deplores behaviours that could violate its ethics code, and no active referee or member of the CTA bodies may carry out any work that is likely to constitute a conflict of interest. The CTA is making itself available to authorities to offer its full collaboration with any type of information it can provide.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
