The Investigating Court 1 of Barcelona has received the request from Real Madrid to appear as a private prosecution in the Negreira Case, the case opened against Barcelona for payments to Enríquez Negreira, former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), since the year 2001 to July 2018 for “no arbitration decisions against Barcelona and that everything was neutral”. The newspaper El Mundo has published the letter that the white club has sent to the courts to justify its claim, based on the interest of “cleaning up the competition”. Madrid, as stated in the letter, considers itself an “offended or harmed entity”.The Court has transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office and the rest of the parties involved the request for the appearance of Madrid to motivate its subsequent decision. “Real Madrid CF, as is well known, participates in the National League Championship, so that the actions that are the subject of this case, tending to favor FC Barcelona, one of the main competitors of our represented company, in taking decisions of the referees and, in this way, in the results of the competition, undoubtedly harmed him,” says the document to which El Mundo has had access. The white club maintains that the Criminal Code “protects cleanliness in sports competitions and the social interest and of its own participants in safeguarding sports integrity, an interest in which ethical values come together and which in turn has economic implications.” On March 12, after the emergency meeting of its Board of Directors, Madrid announced its intention to appear in the case. “The Board of Directors of Real Madrid CF has learned of the serious accusations made by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office against FC Barcelona, two of its presidents, Josep María Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, and the former directors Albert Soler and Óscar Grau, on the grounds of potential crimes, among others, of corruption in the sports field, within the framework of the relations established by said club with the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira.
The details
Real Madrid expresses its deep concern about the seriousness of the events and reiterates its full confidence in the action of justice and has agreed that, in defense of its legitimate interests, it will appear in the procedure as soon as the judge opens it to the injured parties,” he published in a note on his website. Until that date, the white club had preferred to remain on the sidelines to let the Justice act, even not adhering to the joint statement made by the First and Second clubs. Along with Real Madrid, LaLiga and the RFEF also confirmed their intention to take part in the case. In both cases, their requests were met. The Higher Sports Council has also raised the corresponding claim so that his appearance is accepted.