Ex-referee Negreira refuses to testify in Barcelona payments case

José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spain’s referees committee (CTA), on Tuesday refused to testify in court to a judge investigating alleged bribery and corruption relating to millions of euros in payments he received from FC Barcelona.

Court sources told EFE that Negreira, 78, appeared for a hearing that only lasted a couple of minutes, in which he told the judge that he was invoking his right not to testify. The former refereeing chief had been due to appear in court in February, but his appearance was delayed twice after his defense team argued he is unfit to testify because he suffers from “mild dementia”. Judge Joaquín Aguirre in Barcelona said in late January that Negreira was mentally fit to take the stand. Court sources said Negreira made no mention of his health or mental faculties during the hearing on Tuesday.

Prosecutors accuse the La Liga club of “continued sporting corruption”, breach of trust and false documentation over payments between 2001 and 2018 totaling 7.3 million euros to Enríquez Negreira’s firm. In addition to Negreira, current FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta, and his predecessors, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bertomeu, as well as other former executives of the club and Negreira’s son, Javier Enriquez, are also under investigation. The club has denied any wrongdoing and has acknowledged the payments, saying it had received technical reports on refereeing as part of the deal which it insists was above board.