In the Negreira case, leaked documents bolster Barcelona's assertions.

 

Libertad Digital's new revelation has introduced a crucial piece of evidence in support of Barcelona's assertion that the club solely employed Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira's services in order to obtain technical reports on referees.

The publication found a couple of documents, each two to three pages long, that relate to referee Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva, who presently serves as a VAR official, and for which Negreira got an average salary of €430,000 per year.

The phrase "Secret arbitration report" is seen in the heading of the documents made public by Libertad Digital. Incidentally, these documents, which were taken during a search of the home of former Barcelona board member Josep Contreras, who passed away in December, had the letterhead of FC Barcelona.

Under the administrations of Josep Lluis Nunez, Joan Gaspart, and Josep Maria Bartomeu, Contreras served on the Barcelona board. According to the results of the investigation, Contreras received commissions of up to 50% of the sum Barcelona paid for the services of the company Negreira-managed Dansil 95.

The data obtained by the aforementioned outlet also include a 2012 article on Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva. The report was written on the occasion of Barcelona's away game versus Mallorca and during Sandro Rosell's administration. Rosell is accused of paying Negreira €2 million between January 2011 and January 2014.

Apart from the Mallorca game, there is also a brief report on the Barcelona-Racing Santander (22-1-2011) encounter and the Copa del Rey tie against Ceuta (10-11-2010).

Data on Villanueva's referring choices are included in the two-page report. He officiated four games for Barça, and the team won three of them. The study essentially contained a thorough profile on Villanueva.

Keep in mind that Barcelona is allegedly responsible for paying Enriquez Negreira €7.3 million between 2001 and 2018. According to the prosecutor's office, Barcelona's real goal was to take "measures likely to favor FCB in the decision-making of the referees."

Amidst all this, the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Barcelona has charged former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, and former directors Albert Soler and Oscar Grau with corruption.