"Bribery of the referees" .. The Spanish government is moving against Barcelona

 Spain's Supreme Sports Council intends to take steps against FC Barcelona, ​​as part of the legal proceedings the club faces over multimillion-dollar payments over several years to a company owned by the former vice-president of the arbitration committee.

Council president Jose Manuel Franco said on Monday that the council would take steps against Barcelona as part of the legal procedures the club faces over the payments. Franco said on the local (Telecinco) TV channel that the government will join the other accused parties in the legal procedures against the club.

Spain's Sports Supreme Council is the latest to announce plans to act against Barcelona after prosecutors formally charged the club on Friday with corruption, fraudulent management and falsifying documents. The examining judge will decide whether the allegations should lead to formal charges. Real Madrid announced after an emergency meeting of its board of directors on Sunday that it would take on its biggest rival, becoming the latest club to express concerns over the case.

La Liga Santander (La Liga) and the Spanish Football Federation also announced that they would take the same action. Attention has been turning to Barcelona since the announcement last month that he had paid money to the former vice-chairman of the arbitration committee.

For his part, Barcelona denied any wrongdoing, and said that he paid this money in exchange for obtaining technical reports on the referees, but he did not try to influence their decisions in the matches.

Club president Joan Laporta said on Sunday that Barcelona were "innocent of the charges." Prosecutors said in court documents that payments to the club amounted to 7.3 million euros ($7.7 million) from 2001 to 2018.

They added, "These amounts are not justified because they are not included in the club's main system, and were not approved by its general assembly." There is no evidence yet of the impact of these payments on the outcome of matches.