Barcelona is feeling the heat as they face corruption charges over payments to former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira
The football club is accused of giving Negreira and a company he owns a total of 8.4 million euros, and transferring false records spanning from 2001 to 2018.
Lawsuits were brought on by the prosecutor's office and have indicted not just Barcelona, but former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell.
The public prosecutor's office decried Barcelona's "strictly confidential verbal agreement" with Negreira and later called it "corruption." La Liga's Chief Executive, Javier Tebas, called for the resignation of the current president, Joan Laporta, if he could not explain the payments.
However, Laporta denied the accusation of buying referees, urging the public to recognize that Barcelona has never had intentions of buying them.
The payments were investigated following tax authorities' discovery of Dasnil 95, Negreira's company, to which Barcelona made a reported €1.4 million payment.
In 2018, Negreira left his role with the referees' committee after earning a whopping €7 million from the alleged agreement with Barcelona.
While the club acknowledged the video-reporting from the company, 18 out of 20 La Liga clubs expressed worry about the controversy.
Nonetheless, Barcelona's coach Xavi claimed he had no idea about the payments and did not feel that the team had any advantage from such.
Stay tuned to CNNBC to learn more about Barcelona's ongoing corruption lawsuit.
The public prosecutor's office decried Barcelona's "strictly confidential verbal agreement" with Negreira and later called it "corruption." La Liga's Chief Executive, Javier Tebas, called for the resignation of the current president, Joan Laporta, if he could not explain the payments.
However, Laporta denied the accusation of buying referees, urging the public to recognize that Barcelona has never had intentions of buying them.
The payments were investigated following tax authorities' discovery of Dasnil 95, Negreira's company, to which Barcelona made a reported €1.4 million payment.
In 2018, Negreira left his role with the referees' committee after earning a whopping €7 million from the alleged agreement with Barcelona.
While the club acknowledged the video-reporting from the company, 18 out of 20 La Liga clubs expressed worry about the controversy.
Nonetheless, Barcelona's coach Xavi claimed he had no idea about the payments and did not feel that the team had any advantage from such.
Stay tuned to CNNBC to learn more about Barcelona's ongoing corruption lawsuit.