Real Madrid announces its procedures regarding the “Barcelona corruption” case

 Real Madrid announced, on Sunday, that it will join a complaint filed by Spanish prosecutors against Barcelona and two of its former bosses, regarding alleged payments to a company owned by a senior official in the refereeing committee to influence the results of matches.

The Spanish and European champions called an emergency meeting of its board of directors to discuss alleged attempts by its rivals to influence the referees, and decided to take legal action over what it described as "serious accusations" by prosecutors.

Royal club statement

• "Real Madrid expresses its deep concern about the seriousness of the facts and confirms its full confidence in the work of the judiciary."

• "The club agreed to join the lawsuit as soon as the judge considers the case, in defense of its legitimate interests."

The allegations indicate that Barcelona paid more than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) between 2001 and 2018 to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negrera, who was vice-chairman of the refereeing committee of the Spanish Football Federation from 1993 to 2018.

Prosecutors allege that, under a secret agreement and "in exchange for money", Negrira complimented Barcelona "in the decisions taken by the referees in the matches played by the club, as well as in the results of the tournaments".

A senior Barcelona official told Reuters on Friday that the club anticipated the complaint, but said it "doesn't go beyond the premise of a preliminary investigation" by prosecutors. The official added, "The club will cooperate fully with the investigation by all means necessary," and "reiterates that they did not buy the responsibility of any referee and did not try to influence the decisions of any referee."

In a statement last month, the club denied any wrongdoing, saying it had simply paid an outside consultant who provided it with "technical reports on professional arbitration", describing it as "common practice among professional football clubs".

The complaint focuses on 2.9 million euros paid between 2014 and 2018, and alleges that Barcelona, ​​with the help of former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, reached a "confidential verbal agreement" with Negrera.

The complaint accuses the club's management, in addition to Rosell, Bartomeu, Negrera, and two former Barcelona officials, of corruption in sports, unfair management, and tampering with commercial documents.