The former vice president of the refereeing committee in Spain, José María Enríquez Negreira, is now required to testify as a defendant concerning payments his companies received from Barcelona.
This decision follows a judge’s dismissal of Negreira’s claim of dementia, with the judge, Joaquín Aguirre, ruling that although Negreira experiences some memory impairment, he remains mentally capable of appearing in court and potentially facing prosecution.
Negreira, who was previously a referee in the Spanish top flight, is scheduled to testify on Feb. 21.
Barcelona made payments exceeding €7 million ($7.3 million) to Negreira’s companies between 2001 and 2018 during his tenure as the vice president of the committee. Last March, Negreira, along with his son Javier Enríquez Romero, was charged with corruption related to these payments.
Other individuals charged in the case include former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep María Bartomeu, as well as former executives Oscar Grau and Albert Soler.
Bribery charges were added in September after the judge said Negreira “exercised public functions” as vice president of the committee, which equates him to a civil servant.
In October, current Barça president Joan Laporta was also charged with bribery when the judge ruled his first spell in charge, between 2003 and 2010, should not be time-barred.
Laporta has insisted the money was for “technical reports about referees” and, along with the club, has repeatedly denied ever “buying referees or influence.”
However, prosecutors have accused Rosell and Bartomeu of having an agreement with Negreira in which “he would carry out actions aimed at favouring Barca in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club and thus in the results of the competitions.”
Rosell was Barca president from 2010 to 2014, before Bartomeu replaced him. After six years at the helm of the Catalan club, Bartomeu resigned in 2020, with Laporta elected as his replacement in 2021.