Barcelona president Laporta ‘under formal investigation’ for suspected bribery

Last month an investigating judge, Joaquín Aguirre López, said Barcelona may have benefited from graft and put the club under investigation for suspected “active bribery”.

UNDER INVESTIGATION: FC Barcelona club President Joan Laporta. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, is under formal investigation for suspected bribery in relation to two decades of activities at Spain’s refereeing committee, according to a court document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

In March prosecutors filed a complaint over alleged payments of more than €7.3m over 17 years to firms owned by José María Enríquez Negreira, who was vice-president of the Spanish football federation’s refereeing committee from 1993 to 2018.