Barcelona President Joan Laporta takes swipe at critics over Negriera case, says authorities have ‘nothing’
The club's president says that the prosecutors are only making the matter big and trying to find a case against the club to tarnish the name.
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Joan Laporta has said he would prove Barcelona clean of the 'Nagreira Scandal'
Barcelona president Joan Laporta came before the fans in Barfelona’s match against Getafe to explain to fans about Negreira case. The president of the Spanish Giants said that the authorities have only ‘magnified a situation’. Jose Maria Nagreira was only a former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees but at the same time was linked to Barcelona. “They have nothing” against Barcelona “as there is nothing “ said Laporta to the fans.
The Negreira case comes into the picture in 2023 when the Spanish investigators conducted an investigation in DASNIL-95. They found a sum of €300000 and €550000 paid by the Blaugranas to the company without any considerable work in return. These payments took place in leaps and bounds for around 2 decades.
Nagreira owns DASNIL-95. The investigations were forwarded to the State authority. The prosecutors raised a charge that the club must have paid the company of Negreira so as to get favor in refereeing during the matches. Accusing two former presidents of the club – Josep Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell, and Nagreira himself.
The club president Joan Laporta has agreed that there were payments that were made. But the Blaugrana president also made it clear that it was only done to prepare reports of refereeing issues that would guide the players. This practice is very normal for clubs to perform. Further clearing that the club ‘never had the intention of buying referees ‘.
The linkage between Nagreira, DASNIL-95 and Barcelona
Jose Maria Enrique Nagreira also known as Jose Nagreira was a former vice president of Spanish football federation’s Referee Technical Committee. He was one of the most popular referees during the later half of the 20th century.
The referee is said to own the company DASNIL-95. It is alleged that through invoices Barcelona has paid the company from 2001- 2018. There are various multiple versions from former directors of Barcelona that are not revealed to the public. Reports claim that some have claimed Barcelona received envelopes from DASNIL-95 on matchday. This is denied by Nagreira, while his son agreed to it
The former president has denied the charges. He said that he only gave advice, making sure that no controversial decision is being taken against the Spanish club in matches of La Liga and Copa Del Rey.
Barcelona are nearing a victory to win this La Liga campaign, the Negreira scandal could put a dip dent. The UEFA board could take resolutions to ban the Catalonians from participating in European competitions by looking into the Nagreira matters personally.
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Arpan Ghosh
(1403 Articles Published)