The admission for processing of the Prosecutor's complaint against FC Barcelona has increased the pressure for him to give explanations about the millionaire salary with which, over 17 years and under four different presidents, he rewarded the former referee José María Enríquez Negreira in his time as vice president of the Arbitration Technical Committee (CTA).
Joan Laporta continues to cling to a discourse in which emotional elements prevail under a victimizing umbrella intended above all to clear balls out.
What is central, however, is that to this day they have not yet been able to build their own, solid and credible story, which allows them to combat the Prosecutor's maximum hypothesis, according to which Barça tried to rig the competition by buying, through Negreira, the will of the referees.
The prosecution has asked that Laporta testify as a witness, along with a dozen other people, to clarify what originally motivated the payments (7.3 million) to an obscure character like Negreira.
The only known statement from him before the Treasury ensures that the club paid him so that there would be "neutral" arbitrations.
Although the CTA does not even name the referees who direct each game, it may end up being indifferent if it is shown that the purpose of FC Barcelona was to obtain some kind of advantage in the competition.
The Supreme Court has just made it clear, in the Osasuna case, that the crime of corruption in the sports field is a crime "of mere activity", that is, the intention is enough.
The crossed interests of those investigated (former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, Barça as a legal person) and the statements of the witnesses can tighten the noose around Barça's neck, even though the threat of sporting sanctions is far away and his penal lace is complicated.
For now, the shadow of discredit and suspicion is safe for a period of resounding success for the team and its players.
Laporta denounces a witch hunt but the victimizing discourse of a stunned, disoriented club and without its own voice may very soon turn out to be a useless strategy.