The spokesperson for the Catalan regional police refused to disclose the identities of those arrested, contenting himself with indicating that his agents were "in the process of making arrests".
But according to several media - including
Cadena Ser
radio
, generally very well informed about the affairs of the Blaugrana club - Josep Maria Bartomeu is one of them.
La
Cadena Ser
also ensures that the director general in place, Oscar Grau, and the legal director, Roman Gomez Ponti, were also arrested.
According to the Spanish media, the searches carried out at the headquarters of FC Barcelona are linked to the investigation into "BarçaGate", a case that surfaced a year ago.
On February 17, 2020, FC Barcelona denied being at the origin of a campaign of slander targeting club figures on social networks in order to improve the image of Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned on October 27 latest.
La
Cadena Ser
had shown in an investigation that Barca paid € 1million in six separate invoices to the company I3 Ventures, with whom the club have since cut ties.
"Have they been given the task of monitoring social networks?
The answer is yes.
Have they been tasked with discrediting people or institutions on social networks?
The answer is no.
And we will prosecute all those who accuse us of this, ”Bartomeu defended himself, who finally threw in the towel at the end of October.
This police operation comes six days before the elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona scheduled for Sunday, where the socios (supporters-shareholders) will be called upon to choose between Joan Laporta, Toni Freixa and Victor Font.
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