Under the chairmanship of Josep Bartomeu at FC Barcelona football club, false payments and other illegal activities have been carried out. This is stated in a study carried out by consultancy firm Kroll on behalf of FC Barcelona. The current president of the Spanish superpower Joan Laporta has the results on Tuesday a press conference presented. Last week FC Barcelona already requested the Spanish Public Prosecution Service to initiate investigation to possible mismanagement. The Public Prosecution Service confirmed to Reuters news agency that the investigation has started, but it did not want to disclose further details.
The investigation would show that more than thirty million euros was funneled out of the club’s coffers during Bartomeu’s reign. That money went to commissions for the transfers of French attacker Antoine Griezmann and Brazilian attacker Malcolm. Griezmann’s sister, father and agent would have made millions. Commissions paid to agents were remarkably high. Instead of the usual 5 percent, commissions of 33 percent were not uncommon. The club would also have paid fifteen million euros to another club for the first transfer right to talented players.
In some cases, supporting documents and reasons for a payment are missing. During the press conference, Laporta spoke of ‘improper management of club funds’ during the term of his rival Bartomeu and did not rule out ‘illegal enrichment of some involved’. The lawyer of the club Jaume Campaner calls the picture that emerges from the investigation “grotesque” and “a series of very serious criminal behavior”. Whether the previous board is also guilty of the allegations made in the investigation must become clear after the investigation of the judicial authorities, Laporta emphasized.
Also read: ‘FC Messi’ lived on credit, but creative accounting is a thing of the past in Barcelona
More than a billion euros in debt
Josep Maria Bartomeu was president of the Catalan club between 2014 and 2020. Under his leadership, a sporting decline set in after great successes. Although the club still won several titles, the group of players was insufficiently rejuvenated and at international level the club was less and less able to compete with the European top.
But the club ran into financial difficulties in particular. FC Barcelona has a debt of more than a billion euros and sky-high salary costs, which caused the club to get into trouble with the competition organizer La Liga tightened rules. Bartomeu was briefly detained last spring on charges of mismanagement of club funds and corruption, but was released on bail. He has not commented on the investigation, but has denied all previous allegations in the Spanish sports magazine October.
Joan Laporta, who was also chairman of FC Barcelona between 2003 and 2010, succeeded Bartomeu in March 2021. Under his leadership, the club was forced last summer to let star player Lionel Messi leave on a free transfer to the French top club Paris Saint-Germain. FC Barcelona, meanwhile, is going through a difficult season. It was eliminated from the Champions League for the first time in 21 years before the winter break and is in a disappointing fifth place in the Spanish Primera División, well behind rival Real Madrid. Laporta fired Dutch coach Ronald Koeman in October last year and appointed former player Xavi Hernández as his successor.
#Barcelona #president #Laporta #accuses #pastor #financial #mismanagement