Prosecutors last week brought corruption charges once morest the Catalan club following uncovering payments of more than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) to a company owned by a former refereeing chief earlier this year.
Barcelona responded by saying that it had paid Jose Maria Enriques Negrera, a former referee and former vice-president of the arbitration committee of the local federation of the game between 1994 and 2018, to obtain reports and advice related to arbitration.
In this context, Tebas told Movistar Vamos: “Yes, (it’s the worst moment) I remember.”
He added, “The problem we have is the worst. There are payments approved by Barcelona to the vice-president of the federation’s arbitration committee, and this is something abnormal.”
And he added, “It is understood that tension has arisen. Our football reputation is at stake. I am ashamed. We have no explanation from Barcelona.”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta spoke on Monday, stressing that he would defend his team once morest “attacks”. Laporta appeared emotional during his speech and said it was not weakness, but instead showed his willingness to confront his club’s critics.
He said, “I don’t think I got emotional because of weakness, I get emotional because I really want to confront all those who tarnish our badge” and “there are vicious attacks tarnishing our club’s badge, which have nothing to do with reality”.
“You can be sure that the board of directors that I have the honor of chairing will defend him with all our might,” he stressed.
And the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Monday that former Barcelona coaches Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde will be called as witnesses in the trial proceedings.
For its part, Real Madrid, the Spanish champions, said on Sunday that it would appear as an “affected party” in the case once it moved forward.
In addition to the club and Enriques Negrera, two former club presidents, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, also face the same corruption charge.
On a sporting level, Barcelona face no immediate danger because the governing bodies of Spanish, European and world football have a five-year statute of limitations, Tebas said.
On the criminal level, the accused can face up to four years in prison. Sanctions once morest the club might range from “suspension of activity… to complete dissolution as a company,” Alberto Palomar, a law professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University, told AFP.
