Details emerge of ex-Barcelona presidents’ testimony in corruption case – ‘How can we buy referees with…?’ | OneFootball

The first day of testimonies took place in court on Thursday, as Barcelona and two former Presidents, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, stand trial accused of sporting corruption. The case stems from over €7.5m in payments to the company Dasnil 95, run by former Referees Committee Vice-President Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, over a period of 17 years. Enriquez Negreira also stands accused.

A number of figures from Barcelona gave evidence on Thursday, including Rosell and Bartomeu. Beforehand, Javier Enriquez Romero, the son of Enriquez Negreira and author of more than 600 reports on referees, claimed that the money was not in exchange for those reports, disputing Barcelona’s version.

An additional detail added by MD is that Enriquez Romero delivered the reports to former Barcelona director Josep Contreras, now passed away, who delivered them to the club and took a commission of 45%.

Josep Maria Bartomeu testimony

Details have now emerged of the testimonies of Bartomeu and Rosell too. Bartomeu declared that many of the theories posited over the past two years had been rendered obsolete after giving evidence, and some of what he said in court has been revealed. Bartomeu recognised that he was aware of the payments for reports from a consultancy firm on referees, but was not aware of who was behind the business – Enriquez Negreira – or who was authoring the reports.

Bartomeu explained that he only became aware of Javier Enriquez’s involvement in 2013 through a casual conversation, explaining that he inherited the contract, and considered it useful to continue with it. Bartomeu assured the existence of over 600 reports and over 50 DVDs put together by Javier Enriquez over that period. The latter also testified that he also produced said reports on referees for other clubs, and charged a similar price for them. The end of the reports were down to cutbacks at Barcelona, said Bartomeu, which occurred in 2018.

Rosell: How are we going to buy referees with?

Meanwhile Rosell also gave testimony and assured that there was little need for Barcelona to have help from referees, as they had Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and “the best team in the world winning in Spain and Europe.” Rosell also stuck to the same line as Bartomeu, that he inherited the contract with Dasnil 95 from predecessors, and saw no need to investigate further. He also argued, Sport report, that ‘with €250 per report, how can you buy someone?’

What next in the trial?

Enriquez Negreira’s wife, Ana Paula Rufas, was also due to testify, but exercised her right not to respond. The investigation into Enriquez Negreira, has been unable to find the source of over €3m in income found in Paula’s accounts between 1992 and 2003. Former managers Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique are due to give evidence too, as is current Barcelona President Joan Laporta.