The speed with which the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Spanish government have prosecuted the Negreira case is reminiscent, if only by comparison, of the slowness with which they have acted, or rather not acted, in cases as serious as, for example, Operation Catalonia. The public prosecutors submitted their accusation against FC Barcelona and, among others, former club presidents —Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, but not against those who managed the club after Joan Gaspart, because their possible offences have already expired— in a Barcelona court, accusing them of 'continued corruption', disloyal administration and document falsification. And Pedro Sánchez's government acted through José Manuel Franco, Spanish National Sports Council president, who reports to Miquel Iceta, Spanish minister of Culture, who said on Monday that: "A club does not pay the referee's vice-president like that for nothing. It must be investigated".
The Negreira case, made public just a few weeks ago and the true importance and seriousness of which will be confirmed after the investigations, already has the whole Spanish state pack against it: the public prosecutors and the Spanish government. It is not a question of defending Laporta, who as I pointed out last week owes the club members more explanations than he has offered so far, but of noting that some issues, however serious they may be, rot in the limbo that are the different judicial bodies' offices and the ministers' offices. Others offer quick headlines that are liked in Madrid and are conveniently rewarded.
We Catalans can now complain about not having had an ally in Sánchez's government to unveil everything that is hidden in Operation Catalonia, a fact of significant democratic importance, since the Spanish government created a patriotic brigade to fabricate dossiers and try to politically and civilly destroy relevant actors in the Catalan pro-independence movement. Against this no Spanish government came forward as a prosecutor, and, moreover, every possible obstacle has been put in the way of the Spanish Parliament's investigation. What more can we say about the spying on the Catalan pro-independence movement through the Pegasus programme, part of which was authorized by the Spanish justice system, and another part which is suspected to have been conducted by the so-called state sewers.
But Barça, yes. In this case, pedal to the metal. The Spanish prosecutor have already summoned former Barcelona coaches Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde as witnesses to confirm or deny whether they knew about the reports that José María Enríquez Negreira, the former referee at the centre of the controversy, allegedly drew up, and for which he would have received more than 7 million euros from the blaugrana club over the years. Laporta once again stated on Monday that he is keen to confront "the scoundrels who stain our shield".
It is no secret, however, that the battle he has waged with La Liga against its controversial and ultra-right-wing president, Javier Tebas, with the Super League, together with the clash for the same reason with UEFA and FIFA, leaves the club in a fragile position, to say the least. It must explain itself and react with a legal team of the highest level before it is too late. Because this case is not being settled in public, but in the offices of these bodies, where Barça remains, for now, in the lobby.