Former deputy technical referee and owner of “Dasnel 95” Jose Maria Enriques Negrera received payments amounting to 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) from Barcelona which he said were for providing oral advice to the club on matters relating to referees.
Tebas stressed that despite the violation of the conflict of interest regulations, Barcelona cannot be punished in a sporting sense, although he may still face a private trial.
“We must make it clear from the beginning, we have discussed the matter, that sports disciplinary sanctions cannot be imposed because five years have passed,” Tebas said in a video published by “La Liga” on Thursday.
He considered that sanctions might only be imposed within three years of the occurrence of the events.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to AFP that it was investigating the matter, but did not disclose further details.
For its part, Barcelona defended itself by saying that it had previously had a contract with an “external provider” for technical reports related to professional arbitration.
And Tebas considered that from a moral point of view, Negrira should not have provided any services to Barcelona, and the club should not pay any money.
And he added, “The punishment under criminal jurisdiction is another issue,” and “now the Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the events that took place and whether there was a possible corruption crime between individuals.”
Within the same context, the Spanish Football Federation said that it had requested information from Barcelona and the Technical Arbitration Committee regarding the issue of payments.
The investigation began following the Spanish tax authorities identified irregularities in tax payments between 2016 and 2018 by the company “Dasnel 95”, owned by Negrera, vice-president of the Technical Arbitration Committee between 1994 and 2018.
Reportedly, the company received payments during these years.
The last invoice was issued, according to Radio Cadena Ser, in June 2018. After that, the technical jury was restructured, while Enriques Negrera left the organization.
Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu told reporters at the time that the club decided to dispense with these services in order to cut costs.
For his part, Negrira, who ruled in the Spanish League between 1977 and 1992, denied any preferential treatment to Barcelona.
