Defence for Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira request fresh medical assessment in corruption case | OneFootball

The infamous ‘Negreira case’ is set to define Spanish football for years to come, with the hearings ongoing for one of the most high-profile corruption cases in football. After it was found that Barcelona had paid between €7m and €8m to companies linked to the former Vice-President of the Referees Committee (CTA) Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira over a period of 17 years, Barcelona were accused by the public prosecutor of sporting corruption.

This has been the point of tension between Barcelona and Real Madrid for the past year, since Los Blancos began calling for action in the CTA, and the replacement of all who had to links to his time in the organization. Barcelona, for their part have defended their innocence, claiming their payments were for consultancy work on refereeing in Spain.

Negreira defence requests fresh medical assessment

However the case looks set to go ahead without further testimony from Negreira himself. The 80-year-old was declared incapable of giving testimony to the police on the account of suffering from dementia, which affects his memory and ability to defend himself. Negreira is facing the same charges as Barcelona, as well as fraud. According to Diario AS, his defence have asked for a fresh medical assessment of their client, asserting that the severity of his dementia be upgraded from light to ‘moderate’. The change of status would declare Negreira ‘not in a position to fully understand the judicial procedure or to make decisions on his own.’

Negreira will not testify.

Negreira testimonies so far

So far, former Barcelona Presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, who are facing charges, have taken to the stand and answered questions from the defence, claiming Barcelona’s innocence and little knowledge of the payments made to Negreira. Incumbent President Joan Laporta has done the same after being called as a  witness. Former managers Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique have said they had no knowledge of Negreira’s work, but also saw no benefit from officiating during their time in charge. Meanwhile Negreira’s son, Javier Enriquez Romero, who carried out some of the work on his father’s behalf, has claimed that the payments were ‘not just for the scouting reports’ carried out on officials.