Barcelona have failed to deny reports that they made secret payments to a company owned by a LaLiga refereeing chief.
Instead, the Catalan giants have insisted that the payments were a "normal practice" and describe them as being for advice. They have also suggested the report is designed to destabilise their season and have threatened legal action against those suggesting anything untoward with the payment.
The payments span across a two-year period and were made to a company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. At the time, he was vice president of the Technical Committee of Refeeres (CTA) at the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
The bombshell report came from Cadena SER and states that Barca paid just over £1.2million to a company owned by Negreira between 2016 and 2018. He was vice president of the CTA from 1994 to 2018 and oversaw refereeing appointments.
It is stated that Barca paid £473,310.37 to DASNIL 95 SL, a company owned by Negreira, in 2016, £481,479.38 in 2017 and £282,784.95 in 2018. Former Barca presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell have insisted that the payments pre-date their boards.
Negreira meanwhile has not provided 'any document proving that he provided a service' to Barcelona and has insisted that is because his advisory role to the club was 'verbal'.
The Spanish Prosecutor's Office is investigating the matter, with Negreira and former Barca executives having already testified. Negreira has insisted that he did not favour Barca in any decision or appointment and he merely advised the club on how players should behave towards each referee.
The former top official admitted that he worked 'exclusively' for Barcelona. The Catalan club have not denied the reports, but insisted that the payments were all above board.
"FC Barcelona hired in the past the services of an external technical consultant, who supplied, in video format, technical reports referring to players in lower categories of the Spanish State for the Club's technical secretariat," a club statement read.
"Additionally, the relationship with the same external supplier was extended with technical reports related to professional refereeing in order to complement information required by the coaching staff of the first team and the subsidiary, a common practice in professional football clubs.
"Currently, this type of outsourced service falls to a professional attached to the Football Area. FC Barcelona regrets that this information appears precisely at the best sporting moment of the current season.
"FC Barcelona will take legal action against anyone who damages the image of the Club with possible insinuations contrary to the reputation of the entity that may arise as a result of this information."
The Spanish football federation have admitted their regret the Negreira's behaviour have likely violated the ethics of the CTA. They have also offered full co-operation to the prosecutor's office.
"The CTA wants to make it clear that Mr. Enríquez Negreira is not part of any federative structure since the change of government carried out after the 2018 elections," a statement from the organisation read.
"The Technical Committee of Referees regrets the behaviors that may be likely to violate the ethics of the establishment. No active arbitrator or member of the CTA bodies may carry out any work that is likely to enter into a conflict of interest.
"The CTA makes itself available to the Justice to offer its maximum collaboration in any type of information that this Committee can provide."
