Real Madrid call urgent board meeting for Sunday to discuss 'Negreira case'

Real Madrid issued a statement on Saturday in relation to the 'Negreira case' and Fútbol Club Barcelona. Los Blancos had chosen to remain silent on the matter until now, when the Public Prosecutor's Office has denounced Barça for corruption.

Here is the full statement from the Madrid club:

"Given the seriousness of the accusations made by the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office against F. C. Barcelona and two of its presidents for the well-founded suspicions of corruption and their relations with the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, the president has urgently convened the Board of Directors tomorrow, Sunday 12 March 2023 at 12:00 noon, in order to decide the actions that Real Madrid deems appropriate in relation to this matter."

The Barcelona Court of Instruction No.1 has received a complaint from the Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office regarding Barça's payments to former referee Negreira. The complaint accuses the club of being responsible for a continuous crime of corruption through sporting fraud, of disloyal administration and falsification of commercial documents. It also targets former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, former general manager Òscar Grau and former director of professional sports Albert Soler. 

The Public Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that FC Barcelona paid Negreira, former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, €7.3 million between 2001 and 2018, when the relationship between the two was ended. The Public Prosecutor's Office complaint details all the payments made by the club to Negreira's companies.

Barça's version of the situation is as follows: "This is nothing more than an absolutely preliminary investigative hypothesis. The judicial investigation will now properly begin and it is here that any hypothesis will have to be confirmed or rejected and FC Barcelona will contribute to the investigation in any way necessary. FC Barcelona reiterates that it has never bought any referee nor has it sought to influence refereeing decisions."