Berliner Boersenzeitung - Barcelona accuse Bartomeu's board of 'serious criminal behaviour'

EUR -
AED 4.31522
AFN 80.888304
ALL 97.498912
AMD 450.961785
ANG 2.102609
AOA 1077.328333
ARS 1495.545148
AUD 1.785198
AWG 2.117061
AZN 2.01233
BAM 1.954767
BBD 2.370958
BDT 143.554169
BGN 1.957153
BHD 0.442943
BIF 3499.980968
BMD 1.174839
BND 1.500327
BOB 8.114713
BRL 6.487701
BSD 1.174285
BTN 101.427422
BWP 15.69371
BYN 3.842986
BYR 23026.852341
BZD 2.358764
CAD 1.603762
CDF 3394.111322
CHF 0.934818
CLF 0.028458
CLP 1116.391284
CNY 8.404793
CNH 8.41366
COP 4786.013775
CRC 592.794432
CUC 1.174839
CUP 31.133244
CVE 110.205847
CZK 24.537655
DJF 208.90054
DKK 7.464419
DOP 71.253271
DZD 152.08381
EGP 57.644553
ERN 17.622591
ETB 161.96881
FJD 2.631934
FKP 0.865827
GBP 0.870473
GEL 3.184019
GGP 0.865827
GHS 12.271518
GIP 0.865827
GMD 84.588684
GNF 10187.705182
GTQ 9.012239
GYD 245.680222
HKD 9.220692
HNL 30.74915
HRK 7.538825
HTG 154.101221
HUF 396.878334
IDR 19177.138578
ILS 3.932645
IMP 0.865827
INR 101.657096
IQD 1538.287418
IRR 49475.420674
ISK 142.202486
JEP 0.865827
JMD 188.013085
JOD 0.833
JPY 172.597416
KES 151.718302
KGS 102.566655
KHR 4705.594432
KMF 491.662342
KPW 1057.367409
KRW 1618.012605
KWD 0.358479
KYD 0.978579
KZT 637.390593
LAK 25313.628379
LBP 105215.868765
LKR 354.42278
LRD 235.44663
LSL 20.700553
LTL 3.468995
LVL 0.710649
LYD 6.337679
MAD 10.546829
MDL 19.745738
MGA 5177.331239
MKD 61.527499
MMK 2465.79507
MNT 4218.199965
MOP 9.494685
MRU 46.701927
MUR 53.349419
MVR 18.060731
MWK 2036.250373
MXN 21.785975
MYR 4.956058
MZN 75.142686
NAD 20.699977
NGN 1795.00214
NIO 43.217539
NOK 11.889198
NPR 162.286346
NZD 1.949217
OMR 0.451744
PAB 1.17428
PEN 4.175694
PGK 4.938433
PHP 66.915914
PKR 333.642257
PLN 4.256298
PYG 8795.391372
QAR 4.293396
RON 5.071081
RSD 117.17847
RUB 93.40684
RWF 1697.425028
SAR 4.407443
SBD 9.733656
SCR 17.248342
SDG 705.492335
SEK 11.200132
SGD 1.503048
SHP 0.923239
SLE 26.96278
SLL 24635.799543
SOS 671.15404
SRD 42.987959
STD 24316.803695
STN 24.487273
SVC 10.274529
SYP 15275.247183
SZL 20.683074
THB 37.993557
TJS 11.155755
TMT 4.123686
TND 3.422792
TOP 2.751589
TRY 47.64496
TTD 7.98075
TWD 34.583165
TZS 3019.337536
UAH 49.06211
UGX 4213.774124
USD 1.174839
UYU 46.965391
UZS 14987.083253
VES 141.301934
VND 30709.714631
VUV 140.754337
WST 3.229407
XAF 655.619048
XAG 0.030088
XAU 0.00035
XCD 3.175062
XCG 2.116382
XDR 0.81538
XOF 655.61347
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.07773
ZAR 20.724642
ZMK 10574.962677
ZMW 27.388649
ZWL 378.297809
  • RIO

    -0.7900

    63.83

    -1.24%

  • CMSC

    0.0000

    22.43

    0%

  • NGG

    -0.4200

    72.23

    -0.58%

  • GSK

    0.2000

    38.23

    +0.52%

  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • BTI

    0.2500

    52.62

    +0.48%

  • BP

    -0.5800

    32.13

    -1.81%

  • CMSD

    -0.0400

    22.85

    -0.18%

  • AZN

    0.6800

    73.68

    +0.92%

  • RBGPF

    7.0000

    75

    +9.33%

  • RYCEF

    -0.2600

    13.24

    -1.96%

  • BCC

    -1.9200

    86.43

    -2.22%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.15

    -0.46%

  • SCS

    -0.1700

    10.51

    -1.62%

  • VOD

    0.2200

    11.52

    +1.91%

  • BCE

    -0.1700

    24.43

    -0.7%

  • RELX

    0.6200

    53.71

    +1.15%

Barcelona accuse Bartomeu's board of 'serious criminal behaviour'
Barcelona accuse Bartomeu's board of 'serious criminal behaviour'

Barcelona accuse Bartomeu's board of 'serious criminal behaviour'

Barcelona's previous board, led by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, showed "very serious criminal behaviour", a lawyer hired by the club said on Tuesday.

Text size:

At the presentation of the club's 'forensic report' into the financial management of Barca under Bartomeu, current president Joan Laporta also said "payments without cause, payments with a false cause or disproportionate payments were found".

Laporta added that "it could not be ruled out that there was unfair reward for those people responsible for these payments".

The findings of the report prompted the club to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office in Barcelona last week. The prosecutor's office began an investigation into "economic crimes" on Friday, a source told AFP.

Barcelona's report, carried out by financial investigations company, Kroll, was initiated after the club's general director, Ferran Reverter, announced the results of an internal audit in October.

Reverter said the club was "technically bankrupt" when Laporta took over as president in March 2021, with the audit uncovering total club debts of 1.35 billion euros ($1.52 billion).

The presentation of the report was made in the offices outside Camp Nou on Tuesday morning by Laporta, Eduard Romeu, Barcelona's financial vice-president, and Jaume Campaner, a corporate lawyer contracted to work on the investigation.

Campaner said: "It's not about pointing fingers or describing the management of the previous board as better or worse, that's not it.

"It is about transferring information to the authorities that investigate crimes and clamp down on this sort of behaviour, which is very serious criminal behaviour."

Campaner continued: "If I had to define it all in one word, it would be: disloyalty. Because it is money from the members of FC Barcelona. That money cannot be abused or given away as if it was yours."

- 'False accounting' -

Campaner listed a number of alleged irregularities found in the report, including lawyers being paid seven million euros for the "supposed signing of a player", commissions paid to agents that were inflated from five to 33 per cent and a 15 million-euro payment made to a club to secure first refusal on young players, which Campaner said had "no basis in reality".

"The legal word for this is false accounting," Campaner concluded.

Bartomeu has defended his time as president, rejecting the figures presented by the current board while blaming losses on the crisis caused by the pandemic.

"Our management was serious and responsible," Bartomeu said in an interview with Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo in October.

Laporta said on Tuesday he was still "open to dialogue" with Bartomeu. He said the club's wage bill had been reduced by 159 million euros under the current board.

Barcelona failed to secure an exit for Ousmane Dembele in the January transfer window, which closed on Monday night, with Dembele now able to leave for free when his contract expires in the summer.

Ferran Torres joined earlier in the month from Manchester City for 55 million euros while Laporta said Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's signing on a free transfer from Arsenal should be completed this week.

Bartomeu appeared in court in March and was released pending corruption charges, after police carried out raids at five locations around Barcelona, including the offices at Camp Nou.

More than 200,000 Barcelona members had signed a petition to have Bartomeu removed as president but Bartomeu resigned in October 2020, before a vote of no confidence could take place.

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)