Negreira case

The Negreira investigation is a sports corruption investigation involving Spanish football club Barcelona and José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). The case centers on payments totaling €7.4 million, made by Barcelona to companies linked to Negreira between 2001 and 2018, during his time as the Vice President of the CTA. Barcelona claim they hired Negreira as an external consultant to provide technical reports on refereeing. Negreira has denied being bribed to influence refereeing decisions, though he has said that Barcelona paid him to ensure they had neutrality in the arbitrages. In May 2024, a Spanish court dismissed the "official's bribery" charges, ruling that Negreira was not considered a public official under Spanish law. However, the investigation continued under the charge of sports corruption. In late August 2024, prosecutors also accused Negreira’s associate, Ana Paula Rufas, of money laundering, following the discovery of €3 million transferred to accounts in her name between 1992 and 2023. Public reaction to the case has been divided, with some arguing paying the vice president of Referees Committee (CTA) should have been considered a crime in itself; while Barcelona lawyers argue that since there's no proof of any money being transferred to the actual field referee for any matches, they cannot be found guilty of corruption nor bribery.