Barcelona president Joan Laporta charged with bribery by judge in Negreira case

As reported by Carrusel Deportivo, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been charged with bribery in the Negreira case by investigating judge Joaquin Aguirre.

Not long ago, Barcelona, as a club, were accused of bribery and hit with the same charges for the payments made to former vice-president of the Referees’ Technical Committee (CTA), Enriquez Negreira, between 2001 and 2018.

Barcelona have made it abundantly clear that the payments, amounting to a little over €7 million, were made for services with regard to technical reports on match officials and scout reports on young players in Spain.

The Blaugrana had also reportedly appealed the latest decision accusing them of bribery.

Laporta to stand among the accused

Despite there being no evidence against the Catalan giants, investigations continue in the matter and now club president Joan Laporta has also been charged with bribery.

The judge, Joaquin Aguirre, has informed Laporta of his decision via a letter and has explained the rationale behind charging the Barça president in the communication.

The statute of limitation for the crimes of bribery and sports corruption – the two charges that are being attributed to the case – stands at ten years.

Initially, it was determined that since the case was opened in March 2023, everything that happened before March 2013 (ten-year statute of limitation) was not criminally liable.

However, the judge has now interpreted the matter differently, stating that the statute of limitations for a continuing crime must be calculated from the last criminal act, which took place in 2018.)

Therefore he believes that the correct calculation to determine the statute of limitations is to go back ten years from 2018, and hence, in July 2008, during Laporta’s first presidency (2003-2010).

Will Laporta go to trial?

Laporta’s defence now has five days to file an appeal before the Provincial Court of Barcelona alleging that he does not agree with this new interpretation from Aguirre, which he presumably is going to do.

Then the Barcelona Court will take a few weeks to study the issue and, finally, confirm or annul the decision of the investigating judge. If it is cancelled, Laporta will no longer be investigated.