Barcelona president Joan Laporta has three years left on his contract, but legal action could put an end to his reign sooner than expected. Laporta will appear in court in front of a panel of judges, alongside former presidents Sandro Rosell, Josep Bartomeu and the club as a whole, to answer questions about payments made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the Referee’s Committee.
Marca reports that the court judge in charge of the payments case has ruled that the law should apply retroactively from the date of the final payment to Negreira. This means that Laporta, along with his former colleagues, is now charged with bribery as well.
The criminal statute of limitations for the crimes of bribery is 10 years, starting from 2023 at the time the case was initiated. Barcelona presidents involved in the payments to Negreira from 2013 to 2018 (the period when the payments ceased). Magistrate Joaquin Aguirre ruled that the criminal statute of limitations began to run from the date the final payments.
That dates back to 2008, and would involve Laporta for the final two years of his first Barcelona mandate, before Rosell took over in 2010.
Laporta has so far denied any wrongdoing by the club in connection with the allegations of corruption, describing them as a “campaign” against Barcelona. The club said it is cooperating with the prosecutor in the case.
So far, no sport corruption has been found to exist, but the bribery charge simply means that a public official is paid to do a public service, regardless of whether or not the public service is reciprocated. Barcelona, for its part, will probably argue that Negreira does not serve as a public official but rather as a member of a private corporation in the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
If convicted, Laporta faces a minimum sentence of three to six years in prison. Barcelona could be subject to a range of sanctions, including a warning and the possibility of liquidation. It is important to note that at this stage in the case, both Laporte and Barcelona are charged with bribery, but no verdict has yet been handed down.
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