The judge of the Negreira case has summoned the wife of the former number two of the Spanish referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, for money laundering. The indictment of Ana Paula Rufas comes after the Civil Guard presented a report last August in which it concluded that the woman had received three million euros in bank accounts in her name. These earnings are allegedly part of the million-dollar payments that FC Barcelona paid to Enríquez Negreira for alleged refereeing advice (never confirmed) that, according to investigators, served to favour the Barça club. The money was diverted to the woman’s accounts between 1992 and 2023, according to the report, which concludes that these are “unjustified” returns from the woman’s income or real estate capital.
In a ruling issued on Monday, the judge in charge of Barcelona’s first court of instruction, Joaquín Aguirre, has granted Ana Paula the status of suspect for money laundering, a crime that carries sentences of between six months and six years in prison. The date of her statement has not yet been set. The magistrate recalls that, according to the conclusions of the Civil Guard, “approximately three million euros passed through the current account” of the woman, who is Negreira’s current partner and who has accompanied him in his appearances before the judge. In that same report, the investigators concluded that “it is not proven” that the 7.5 million euros paid by Barça to Negreira while he was acting as vice-president of the Technical Arbitration Committee (CTA) were intended for alleged advice on arbitration matters.
But the investigation has not concluded. The Civil Guard must “find out the destination” of those three million euros, which will take some time. The need to move forward is what has led Judge Aguirre, a veteran magistrate who is known for dragging out investigations, to extend the investigation (which was due to expire on 1 September) for another six months. The judge, who is also investigating the alleged Russian plot of the process in which he is keeping the former president Carles Puigdemont, accused of treason, insists that until the investigators “present their report of conclusions” the defendants cannot be questioned.
He Negreira case The CTA has suffered several setbacks. Last May, the Barcelona Court overturned the charge of bribery against the club and the group of people under investigation: Enríquez Negreira, his son Javier Enríquez, three former presidents of Barça (Sandro Rosell, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Joan Laporta) and various directors. The court upheld the charge of corruption in sport – for which the Public Prosecutor’s Office initially filed a complaint – but exonerated Laporta because the facts had expired. Aguirre had argued that the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), to which the CTA belongs, was a public body, so Negreira was considered a civil servant.
Negreira was the number two of the Spanish referees between 1993 and 2018. During that period of time, he received 7.5 million euros from the various boards of directors of FC Barcelona. The payments ended up coinciding with his departure from the CTA, the governing body of the referees, and at the hands of former president Bartomeu, which led to threats and angry criticism from Negreira. The club has not been able to give a reasonable explanation to date as to why these payments began and continued over time. The hypothesis of the investigators (also not confirmed by the evidence so far) is that the club intended to use Negreira to rig, through referee appointments, the national competitions (League and Cup) in its favour.
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