In the view of Joaquin Aguirre, the judge at of Barcelona Court of Instruction Number One, the 7.5 million euros that Barcelona paid over 17 years to former refereeing vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira may constitute a crime.
The judge has reportedly charged Barcelona with bribery, as well as several people who held important roles at the club.
This is all according to El Debate, who add that Josep Maria Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell, Negreira and his son have all been implicated too.
“A public official is considered to be anyone who, by immediate provision of the law, by election, or by appointment by a competent authority, participates in the exercise of public functions,” the Supreme Court jurisprudence explains.
Meanwhile, El Confidencial have explained exactly what bribery means in Spain in a legal sense.
“It is a criminal offence that does not require proof of the adulteration of specific parties and that contemplates more serious sentences than the crime of corruption between private individuals, that was attributed until now,” that publication has pointed out.
Therefore, bribery has more serious penalties than a crime of corruption, which is what Barcelona was being investigated for until now.
The club has already been charged, but no arrests are planned, according to police sources.
If it can be proved that someone from the club asked for money or compensation for an unfair decision, it would already be bribery.
In this case it has already been shown that the club transferred more than 7m euros to Negreira‘s and his son’s accounts for a series of unexplained services.