Amid the ongoing conundrum that FC Barcelona faces following leaks that suggest that the Catalunyan side had made payments of around £ 1.4 Million to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, La Liga president Javier Tebas has said that the Spanish giants will not be sanctioned.
Tebas clarified that the league will not impose sanctions on the club citing the statute of limitations.
“It is impossible for there to be sporting sanctions, the statute of limitations would have expired," Tebas said in a statement.
The Catalunyan giants have been accused of bribing Negreira during the tenure of club president Josep Bartomeu between the years 2016 and 2018.
Negreira and his son claimed that the payment was made only due to advisory work and had no intention of wrongdoing, as they denied the allegations in testimony at the prosecutor’s office.
It is reported that the transfer of money was made to Negreira’s company named DASNIL 95 and according to the 77-year-old, the remuneration was in exchange for advice on how players should treat referees and what they can and cannot do based on which official was in charge of a particular match.
However, Negreira failed to submit any required documents in an effort to prove his statement true.
The football club also denied the allegation through an official statement.
“FC Barcelona hired the services of an external technical consultant in the past, who supplied, in video format, technical reports referring to lower-category players in Spain for the Club’s technical secretariat,” the club said.
It is alleged that the club paid Negreira a sum of €532,728.02 ($571,000) in 2016, €541,752 ($580,000) in 2017, and then finally €318,200 ($341,000) in 2018.
“Another thing is criminal proceedings or a corruption offence between private individuals. We have to wait for the public prosecutor’s office. If there is a complaint, we will have to appear," he continued.
But, the La Liga chief did not rule out the possibility of further proceedings as the Barcelona judicial system launched an investigation into the allegations.
“Ethically and aesthetically this cannot happen in Spanish football," the 60-year-old said.
Barcelona currently sit atop the La Liga rankings and have an eight-point advantage over closest rivals Real Madrid after the completion of 21 games in the league.
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