Barcelona under formal investigation for suspected 'active bribery' in Negreira refereeing scandal

Reuters claim to have seen a court document confirming that the reigning Liga champions are part of a probe into alleged corruption in Spanish football which spanned more than two decades. The investigation into that case is now said to have been widened to the point that Barcelona are official suspects.

Police forces have also searched the offices of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in Madrid as part of an ongoing inquiry into “possible systemic corruption” within the nation’s refereeing committee. Barca had already been pulled into that case when judge Joaquin Aguirre Lopez claimed earlier in the September that the Catalan giants may have benefited from corrupt officiating.

Prosecutors filed a complaint against Barcelona back in March regarding payments of more than €7.3 million that were paid to firms owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira – the former vice-president of the RFEF refereeing committee – over the course of a 17-year period.

Barca have maintained their innocence throughout, claiming to have paid an external consultant for “technical reports related to professional refereeing” – which they consider to be common practice. Aguirre said in early September that no evidence had been found so far of Negreira paying referees to influence matches, but the case has now taken another twist.