Barcelona's competent court has rejected Real Madrid's request to extend the investigation into the Negreira case by a further six months, the latest twist in the affair surrounding the payments that Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the referees' technical committee, received from Barcelona.
According to "Marca", the judge overseeing the investigation threw out Real Madrid's request, which the public prosecution had backed, to extend a probe that closed today, Tuesday 1 September, for another six months.
At the heart of the case are payments totalling 7.3 million euros that Barcelona made to Negreira and his son Javier between 2001 and 2018.
Rejecting the extension did not mean the judge shut the investigation down for good. Two witnesses are still due to be heard next November: Gerard Lopez, the former Barcelona player and former head coach of the reserve team, and the reserve team's delegate Antonio A.
Those two testimonies scheduled for November do not require an extension, the judge clarified, because the court had already agreed to hear them before the last extension period ran out.
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The judge also refused to extend the investigation while awaiting the Barcelona court's decision on additional investigative measures that Real Madrid had asked for, which the court had already rejected.
Should the Barcelona court approve Real Madrid's request later on, the judge pointed out, those investigative measures would not become void even if carried out after the deadline set for the investigation.
Real Madrid had lodged their request on 14 July to extend the probe by six months, leaning on the results of the Civil Guard's investigation and arguing that they revealed "direct elements and evidence and firm indications" of an ongoing crime of sporting corruption.
And so the court dismissed Real Madrid's request to extend the case. Certain specific judicial measures will continue before the final step is taken on closing the investigation.