Laporta: “The partner must know who led him to ruin”

The result of the forensic investigation revealed by the president of Barcelona highlights three large areas in which Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board could commit a crime. These actions can be summarized in three blocks: exaggerated payments of commissions to intermediaries in transfers, (unfair administration); the payment to a certain law firm of millionaire amounts in the payment of amounts that camouflaged the real cost of players (improper administration and accounting falsehood) and the payment to institutions to silence possible complaints against the entity by masking it under other headings (false documents) . In the event that someone had profited from these alleged crimes, the crime of misappropriation would be added.

The exhibition provided little news regarding what had been leaked before and there were no details about the names of the cases that were dealt with roughly. Without expressly citing them, they spoke of the cases of the commissions for the signing of Malcom, the payments to André Cury as a scout in Brazil as well as to the law firm that managed the signing of Griezmann, the payment of 1.6 million to CE Laietà is also questioned for the possible inconvenience derived from the demolition of the Mini Stadium and the 15 million paid to Atlético de Madrid for an alleged right of first refusal to players. What seemed ruled out is the supposed payment to journalists: “payments to journalists have been made, some with cause and others with doubtful cause. If the Prosecutor’s Office requests it, we will explain it. But it is not the most relevant issue.

For Laporta the previous board established “a modus operandi to avoid internal and statutory controls and the debt that was created did not go through the assembly. The lack of control with the wage bill was very serious. What was most surprising was that beyond specific events, it was a way of acting”.

The president did not want to accuse anyone because he assured that “who will determine the guilty is the Prosecutor’s Office. We are neither policemen nor judges and I do not wish ill on anyone. Members have the right to know what actions led the club to ruin. If we had wanted to file complaints or liability actions, which we do not believe is the best solution that costs a lot and lasts seven years, tIt would make sense to have contacted the previous board, but now this must be done by the Prosecutor’s Office. We report facts.”

The conclusions presented by the president are the result of work by the company Kroll, which has spent months investigating the activity of the club’s previous board, chaired by Josep Maria Bartomeu after due diligence carried out by Deloitte. These conclusions that were presented yesterday by the president have already been submitted to the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, which accepted them for processing and now it remains to be seen what judicial path they have.

It is, as Laporta explained “Of operations of dubious economic profitability, payments without cause or payments with a false cause or disproportionate payments were found, which demonstrated disloyal conduct and did not rule out that there was an unjust enrichment of those responsible for these payments.”

Together with Laporta, the economic vice president, Eduard Romeu Jaume Campaner, a specialist in economic criminal law and a doctor in criminal law, presented the conclusions. The vice president acknowledged that “The burden they have left us is very expensive, and someone has to respond.”

For its part, Jaume Campaner assured that “there is no doubt that the facts discovered have criminal relevance” although he clarified that “as they are done in research, it is not possible to go into many details and that is why we provide some rough brushstrokes, even if they are very serious and grotesque. And when you manage someone else’s assets, you can’t give away the money or abuse it or do whatever you want.”

It was Campaner who broke down the cases: “The first block is the retribution to intermediaries, concepts that are much higher or clearly non-existent. Commissions of up to 33% have been detected, there are companies created only to invoice Barça, third parties that have collected ten million in operations that were already closed, or pay a foreign intermediary who was paid for his luxuries under the heading of observer , Although there is no report.

“Another block of behavior affects a law firm that charged 2 million for a consent agreement, another one million and a last seven million for the alleged intervention of a player signing. In our opinion, this falls under the category of misappropriation or unfair administration. In addition, an accounting alteration was made to disguise swaps for purchases. The prices of the players were inflated and that is a crime of accounting falsehood”.

“One and a half million euros were also paid to buy the silence of people so that they would not oppose the general metropolitan plan and there is an illegitimate payment of a payment of 15 million to another team that was masked as the right of first refusal to young players when the The truth was that it was to prevent the club from being reported to the federative bodies”.