Negreira threatened Barça with revealing “all the irregularities”

José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, threatened Barcelona with uncovering “the irregularities of the club that I have known and experienced first-hand” after the club decided to abort the million-dollar payments that it was paying him for his contractual relationship in 2019. The newspaper El Mundo has published what they believe to be the burofax where Negreira threatens to pull the plug and cause a scandal.

“I have the firm intention of filing a complaint with the courts, which will surely have negative consequences. Up to now I have not initiated these proceedings as to, fairly, avoid serious consequences, harbouring the hope of reaching an understanding in relation to my claim, “Negreira assured in the burofax sent.

More detail:

‘Over €1 million was paid’ to José María Enríquez Negreira

The story exploded on Wednesday 15 February, when it was revealed that Barcelona made non-invoiced payments to a company called DASNIL 95, which was owned by José María Enríquez Negreira. The club paid €1.4m between 2016 and 2018. At the time, José María Enríquez was a La Liga referee delegate and vice president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.

Reports in Spain quoted testimony given by Enriquez Negreira to Spanish authorities, in which he said Barcelona had paid him “to make sure no refereeing decisions were made against them, which is to say, for everything to be neutral”.

Laporta reportedly increased the payments made

It has since been revealed that José María Enríquez Negreira was paid €6,659,488 by FC Barcelona since 2001 until 2018, which would mean that Joan Laporta was in charge - something he denies as he says that the payments pre-dated his tenure. El Mundo go even further and claim that Laporta increased the payments to Negreira from €145,000 to €573,000.

Everything Enríquez Negreira said to Bartomeu

Enríquez Negreira said to Bartomeu: “My surprise and disappointment has been huge. After all this time together I take [ending the deal] as an absolutely unjustified personal insult. I have the strong intention of reporting this to the courts, which would surely have negative consequences. Up to now I have not initiated these proceedings as to, fairly, avoid serious consequences, harbouring the hope of reaching an understanding in relation to my claim.

Bartomeu said “it is completely false and absurd to think that we paid off any referees. We have nothing to hide”, when he spoke to La Vaguardia in the immediate aftermath of the revelations.

Enríquez Negreira continued: “I don’t think another scandal favours the club. Until today, keeping in mind the reciprocity in the treatment received from you, the ex-Presidents and the club, I considered that I had earned respect and I take the current treatment I am receiving with the damage and offence that it causes, which unfortunately frees me of the self-imposed obligation.”