Negreira case: two years investigating, everything unsolved and the judge retires

Although the man also agreed last summer to summon the club’s former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, also investigated for payments to Negreira during their respective mandates, he has not yet set a date for it. Several defenses of the case point out to this newspaper that it is foreseeable that they will be summoned when the Civil Guard finishes its investigations. Until now, despite the fact that the judge has stated in several of his records that the purpose of Barça’s payments to Negreira was to obtain arbitration favors – “it is presumed by pure logic,” he even maintained – and even pointed out that “There could be systemic corruption” in the CTA, the truth is that, so far, this hypothesis has not been confirmed. Yes, the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees received more than 7.5 million euros from the Barça team, at least from 2001 and until 2018, coinciding with his departure from the CTA. Money that came to him through several companies, some of which also included his son Javier Enríquez, also accused. In addition, according to the investigations of the Armed Institute, the current partner of the former number two of the referees, Ana Paula Rufas, also received more than three million unjustified in his accounts between 1992 and 2023, which is why the instructor also granted him the status of investigated for money laundering.

He did so last August, in the same order in which he extended, – at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office and the RFEF – the investigation for another six months. Deadline that ends next March 1, but the instructor is retiring this January, so it will be a substitute officer who will take on the case until the Instruction 1 position is put up for competition and the vacancy is filled definitively. The defenses do not expect significant progress to be made during this entire period. Among other reasons because, in these types of complex procedures, it is not common for a substitute judge to make decisions that significantly affect the case. Of course, it will not be paralyzed, but will continue its course, just as happens when the holders are on leave or vacation. In fact, it was already a reinforcement magistrate, Silvia López, who was the first to take charge of the Negreira case, when it fell by distribution to Instruction 1. Aguirre, who was also investigating another matter of great complexity, the so-called Voloh operation and its derivatives – among which was the Russian interference of the ‘procés’ – he assumed it in mid-2023, when that reinforcement ended.

In addition to ordering the registration of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and taking statements as witnesses from dozens of referees, the instructor even accused Joan Laporta of payments to Enríquez Negreira during his first term (2003-2010). He did so after having stated that the alleged crime would have prescribed, and criticizing his lack of ethics. Only a few days later, Aguirre issued another order in which he changed his mind, and decided to investigate Laporta and the rest of those accused of bribery, interpreting that Negreira, as vice president of the CTA, should be considered a public official, which extended the prescription periods. The Prosecutor’s Office – like the defenses – opposed it and, finally, last May, the Barcelona Court excluded the bribery, thus exonerating Laporta.

The destination of money

But the investigation is not over yet. In its latest report included in the summary, dated at the end of November, the Civil Guard confirms, among other issues, that the amounts received by the former referee leader experienced a “notable increase” coinciding with the presidencies of Laporta – during his first stage – and Rosell – in some cases, “doubling those registered in other periods” –. It also certifies that a former Barça manager, now deceased – José Contreras Arjona – and a lawyer who had a relationship with him – José María Molinario Valls – “acted as intermediaries” between the Barça club and several Negreira companies, “obtaining benefits” from that intermediation, and increases the amount received by Negreira from 7.5 to 8.3 million euros.

In their conclusions, the researchers highlight the “apparent anomaly and inconsistency that the FCB made payments to the vice president of the CTA under the pretext of ensuring neutrality in the decisions of said body. Starting from the premise that the CTA must maintain neutral management and adopt decisions within its scope of responsibility, an economic transaction originating in a club that participates in the sports competition would not be justified, in order to guarantee the aforementioned neutrality.

Furthermore, the Armed Institute corroborates the “links” of linesman José Martínez Alfonso with Negreira and his companies “and the arbitration system” – the former having cashed some of Barça’s checks for the former CTA leader, as he himself explained to the Tax Agency–. And they conclude that “the payments constitute significant economic opacity”, “not being able to determine the real reason why they were made, which raises questions about the legitimacy of the transactions,” the report says. Presumably, when the investigators clear up some of them and present their final conclusions, that will be when the rest of the defendants are summoned to testify.