The president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, affirmed that he will not only defend the Barça club in the case opened by the courts for alleged payments to a former referee, but that he will also attack what he considers a campaign against the club.
“The campaign we are suffering is not by chance. Its short-term objective is to destabilize the team and in the medium term, to control Barça, to keep it," Laporta said in a video message addressed to club members.
The Barça president released these statements after a Barcelona court admitted for processing on Wednesday the prosecution's complaint for the alleged payments by Barça to a former referee.
The complaint targets, among others, Barcelona and former club leaders, including former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).
According to the prosecution's complaint, Negreira, who was vice president of the CTA between 1994 and 2018, received from Barcelona through his companies more than 7,3 million euros (7,7 million dollars) between 2001 and 2018.
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Barça ceased its payments in 2018, according to the prosecution, due to the departure of Negreira from the CTA.
For the Public Ministry, Barça, through Rosell and Bartomeu, "reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement" with Negreira "so that, in his capacity as vice president of the CTA and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions tending to favor the FCB in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and thus in the results of the competitions”.
“I will have time to explain to you who, why and how they are orchestrating this campaign. Do not have any doubt that we will defend ourselves and we will not only defend ourselves but we will also attack", Laporta assured in a message to the members before the classic league game against Real Madrid on Sunday.
"Now I want us to concentrate on cheering on the team," said Laporta, recalling that "this Sunday we have a great game."
“Come cheer on the team. More than ever we have a great opportunity to get closer to the great objective of this season, which is to win the League ”, he concluded.
AFP
