The best and worst moments of Bartomeu at Barça 1:26
(CNN Spanish) -
The Mossos d'Esquadra, the autonomous police of Catalonia, raided the offices of FC Barcelona this Monday morning as part of the investigation of the case known as “Barçagate”.
This process, still in the investigation phase and under summary secrecy, is focused on exploring possible irregularities that the club would have committed, suspected of promoting a viral smear campaign against institutions and people critical of the previous board, which was led by the former president Josep María Bartomeu.
The operation carried out by agents of the Central Area of Economic Crimes of the Mossos d'Esquadra was ordered by the magistrate of the court of instruction number 13 of Barcelona.
An operation that has also led to the arrest of several former directors and current executives of the institution, although the Mossos d'Esquadra have not detailed the names to CNN.
On the other hand, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia confirmed to CNN that the court in charge of the investigation only gave entry and search orders.
In a statement published on Monday, the club said that it respects the ongoing judicial process and the presumption of innocence of those affected.
Furthermore, he says that he has collaborated with the authorities to "clarify the facts that are being investigated."
All this happens a few days before the presidential elections are held in the club scheduled for Sunday, March 7.
The elections were called after the resignation of Josep María Bartomeu and his board at the end of October.
With that decision, Bartomeu's team put an end to several months of criticism for the sporting drift that the first team was dragging, as well as for the tension generated in August 2020 before the possible departure of soccer player Lionel Messi.
Such was the discomfort that even different candidates for the presidential elections and associations from the Barcelona environment decided to present a vote of no confidence against the board of directors commanded by Bartomeu.
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The controversy over this alleged smear campaign jumped to the media in February 2020, when the Cadena SER radio station published that FC Barcelona had contracted the company I3 Ventures to "create states of opinion on social networks."
According to the station, this organization would have generated content on social networks attacking "people from different areas of the Barça ecosystem", including first team players, to "protect the image of the club president."
The information was flatly denied by Bartomeu and by the club itself through a statement.
In that note, the institution alleged that it only had contracted monitoring services in social networks "in order to be aware of both the positive and negative messages" of which the Entity is the object, to "protect and preserve" its reputation and that of the people linked to the club.
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