{"id":294374,"date":"2023-10-19T18:55:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T18:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=294374"},"modified":"2023-10-19T18:55:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T18:55:46","slug":"joan-laporta-insists-barcelona-did-not-bribe-ex-spanish-referees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/joan-laporta-insists-barcelona-did-not-bribe-ex-spanish-referees\/","title":{"rendered":"Joan Laporta insists Barcelona &apos;did NOT bribe ex-Spanish referees&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Barcelona president Joan Laporta insists &#8216;they have proof they did NOT bribe ex-Spanish referees&#8217; chief Jose Enriquez Negreira &#8211; and claims Real Madrid fans are using it against them in the media, politics and in sport&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Joan Laporta insists Barcelona have not committed any wrongdoing<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The club president stressed Barcelona &#8216;did not bribe ex-officials&#8217;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast\u00a0&#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Barcelona president Joan Laporta has denied any wrongdoing over &#8216;suspected bribery&#8217;\u00a0in relation to alleged payments being made to a refereeing official.<\/p>\n<p>The 61-year-old also criticised Real Madrid supporters for trying to benefit from Barcelona&#8217;s ongoing situation and explained the charges against him cannot be proved.<\/p>\n<p>Spanish prosecutors first filed their complaint over alleged payments in March with it being alleged Barcelona made numerous payments to former vice-president of the Spanish football federation&#8217;s refereeing committee,\u00a0Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.<\/p>\n<p>The suspected payments made to firms owned by Negreira total over \u00a36.3m and spanned during a 17-year duration between 1993 and 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Laporta was president at the Nou Camp for his first spell at the club between 2003 and 2010 before returning to the club&#8217;s helm two-years ago with Barcelona in the midst of a financial crisis.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/18\/76764277-12650175-Barcelona_president_Joan_Laporta_has_denied_any_wrongdoing_over_-a-1_1697736391475.jpg\" height=\"417\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Barcelona president Joan Laporta has denied any wrongdoing over suspected bribery<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/17\/76764283-12650175-image-a-2_1697734597923.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Laporta accused Real Madrid supporters of trying to take advantage of Barcelona&#8217;s situation<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Joaquin Aguirre Lopez has put the club under formal investigation for suspected &#8216;active bribery&#8217; and named Laporta as one of the suspects involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, he has denied any involvement after breaking his silence in an interview with\u00a0Catalunya Radio.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There is no bribery because Enr\u00edquez Negreira is not a public official and there is no continuing crime,&#8217; stated Laporta.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I can document all the payments for my epic, which were also audited. From a factual point of view we have demonstrated it, and from a legal point of view we are demonstrating it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The party accusing Barcelona of bribery or corruption cannot prove it. The verdict will be in Barcelona&#8217;s favour.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He then went on to claim there is a general consensus to &#8216;destabilise Barcelona&#8217; with other clubs being &#8216;terrified&#8217; of letting the Spanish giants win competitions.<\/p>\n<p>If the bribery case is brought to trial then Barcelona could be kicked out of next season&#8217;s Champions League and potentially lose funding for \u00a31.2bn Nou Camp renovation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/17\/76764281-12650175-image-a-3_1697734605303.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Laports has called for Real Madrid president Florentino Perez (pictured) to visit Barcelona<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/18\/75978609-12650175-Barcelona_say_they_paid_an_external_consultant_for_reports_relat-a-4_1697734937571.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Barcelona are under investigation over &#8216;suspected bribery&#8217; and named Perez as one of the suspects involved<\/p>\n<p>Laporta further accused Real Madrid fans of &#8216;taking advantage&#8217; of his club&#8217;s legal situation and called for the club&#8217;s president Florentino Perez to travel to Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s a big challenge to fight, with sportsmanship, against sociological madridismo. We&#8217;re used to it. It&#8217;s in the media, in political sectors, in sports power&#8230; And we have to accept it as normal. But as Bar\u00e7a players we have to compete, and we won, against this. They&#8217;re terrified of a winning Barcelona, admired and loved.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Real Madrid sociological fans have taken advantage of the Negreira case.\u00a0They want to control Barcelona, and some even want to take it over. It&#8217;s an issue to always keep in mind.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My relationship with Florentino Perez is correct and I would like him to come to Barcelona.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12650175\/Barcelona-president-Joan-Laporta-bribery-real-madrid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona president Joan Laporta insists &#8216;they have proof they did NOT bribe ex-Spanish referees&#8217; chief Jose Enriquez Negreira &#8211; and claims Real Madrid fans are using it against them in the media, politics and in sport&#8217; Joan Laporta insists Barcelona have not&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Joan Laporta insists Barcelona &amp;apos;did NOT bribe ex-Spanish referees&amp;apos; - Sports-Life-News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/joan-laporta-insists-barcelona-did-not-bribe-ex-spanish-referees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joan Laporta insists Barcelona &amp;apos;did NOT bribe ex-Spanish referees&amp;apos; 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