Barcagate 2.0: Everything you need to know about Barcelona's €1.4m corruption scandal

La Liga leaders FC Barcelona are reportedly in the middle of a major corruption scandal, yet again. The Blaugrana paid around €1.4mn (£1.2 million) to a company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was the vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Referees Committee from 1994 until 2018.

The breakdown of the payments to Negreira is said to be the following: €532,728.02 ($571,000) in 2016, €541,752 ($580,000) in 2017, and €318,200 ($341,000) in 2018, according to a report from Spanish outlet Cadena SER.

Barcelona under new investigation

The Catalan club paid Negreira's company, DASNIL 95 SL across three seasons between 2016 and 2018. Barcelona's payments stopped in June 2018 and the time frame is believed to have coincided with Negreira's departure from the Referees Committee. Barcelona are currently under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office. The investigation pertains to a review of the Treasury for irregularities in the taxation of the three above-mentioned years.

It is understood that Negreira has told investigators that he did not favour Barcelona in any refereeing decisions but offered the club verbal advice on several problems, including how players should behave in front of referees.

The payments to Negreira were made when the disgraced former president Josep Maria Bartomeu was Barcelona's chief. Bartomeu has now claimed that the payments were made lawfully and then later ended as part of cost cuts.

Club releases statement

Following this, Barcelona released an official statement, confirming, "Knowing the facts which the Prosecutor's Office is investigating related to payments made to external companies, [the club] wants to make clear:

"That in the past Barcelona contracted the services of an external technical consultant, who provided, in video form, technical reports referring to players from the youth categories of the Spanish state for the club's technical secretary.

"Additionally, the relationship with this external provider expanded to technical reports related to professional refereeing, with a view to complementing the information required by the first-team and academy coaching staff, a usual practice in professional football clubs.

"At present, these types of external services fall to a professional assigned to the Area of Football. Barcelona regrets that this information appeared just at the best sporting moment of the present season."

The official statement from Barcelona also stated that the Catalan club will "take legal action against those who damage the club's image with possible insinuations contrary to the reputation of the institution which could be produced based on this information."

Meanwhile, Bartomeu also claimed that similar payments were made by the club even in the early 2000s, which was denied by ex-Barca president Joan Gaspart. The latter was in Barcelona's office for three years before Bartomeu succeeded him in 2003.

The timing of the latest scandal is not great as Barcelona, under Xavi Hernandez's management, are doing well and are eight points clear at the top of the 2022-23 La Liga table.

The 'Original Barcagate'

The original "Barcagate" started a couple of years ago during Bartomeu's second stint as Barcelona president. The scandal saw Bartomeu and his entire board forced to resign in October 2020.

The Catalan club touched rock bottom thanks to a massive financial crisis and accusations stating that Bartomeu and his associates hired a company called I3 Ventures to run a "smear campaign" that targeted current and former players as well as presidential candidates.

Barcelona denied the allegations and even terminated their contract with I3 Ventures. After more than 20,000 club members signed a motion to remove Bartomeu and called for a vote of no confidence. The Spanish administrator stepped down from the role along with the rest of his board of directors in October 2020.

Bartomeu, club CEO Óscar Grau and the head of legal services Román Gómez Pontí, as well as former adviser Jaume Masferrer were detained by police on suspicion of "unfair administration, corruption between individuals and money laundering" in March 2021.

Josep Bartomeu reportedly paid journalists

In addition, as a part of the Barcagate scandal's investigation, police are believed to have recently found proof of payments Bartomeu made to two journalists and other social media companies to defend the club's executive staff and even criticise players and supporters, in an attempt to strengthen their image in the community.

The two journalists— Marçal Lorente and Albert Lesán were both strong defenders of the former president during his time at Camp Nou.

Joan Laporta became Barcelona's president after winning the elections held in March 2021. He has since been struggling to get the club out of the crisis.