Barcelona President Joan Laporta has defended the club’s innocence after giving evidence in the Negreira case. The Catalan giants stand accused of sporting corruption after payments of €7-8m over a period of 17 years to companies linked to former Referees Committee (CTA) Vice-President Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

Unlike his successors Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, Laporta has not been indicted due to a statute of limitations. However he has been called as a witness in the case.

“We paid for reports, never to favour Barca. At that time, Barca was admired worldwide. An example and a benchmark in football. We didn’t need any favours,” Laporta told Sport after making his statements to the court.

‘We don’t have the reports from my first spell’ – Laporta

A central tenet of the case is that the authorities have been unable to find sufficient proof of services rendered. Barcelona assure that Negreira was acting as a consultant, provided evaluations of refereeing performances and tendencies. Laporta admitted that the reports from his tenure had not been provided.

“In fact, I don’t know Negreira or anyone from his circle. I’ve never had any contact with them. I inherited those payments, I asked the sporting director, and they told us to proceed with the reports. We don’t have reports from my first period because they are destroyed every five years.”

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Cost of reports meant less people were involved

As per Barcelona’s statutes, any cost over a certain figure, currently €150k, must be approved by the board. However Laporta explained that with the reports billed monthly, the Barcelona board were not made aware of the payments.

“The cost of the reports didn’t necessarily have to be reviewed by the board. It’s a matter of the amount.”

Barcelona will not face a sporting sanction for their actions either way, as La Liga’s statute of limitations had expired by the time the case was brought against the Catalan club. However they could face severe criminal and financial sanctions.

The post Barcelona President gives evidence on Negreira case – ‘Reports from my first period destroyed’ appeared first on Football España.