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A former Barça manager kept a note at home with mentions of "checks" and "black money"

2023-03-22T12:52:51.553Z


"Only open it in case the greatest misfortune occurs for us," wrote Josep Maria Contreras in a note found by the Civil Guard in the registry of his house


The former director of FC Barcelona Josep Contreras, who died last December, may be the custodian of some of the best kept secrets of the Barça club, of its top managers and, above all, of himself and those closest to him.

Contreras kept, in a safe hidden in the bathroom of his house, in the upper area of ​​Barcelona, ​​some handwritten pages that, under the heading "top secret", contained allusions to checks and supposed payments

in

"black money". .

The content is difficult to decipher, although it contains names ("Josep Maria", "Mr. Rosell") which, according to La Liga, which provided the documentation for the Negreira case, may correspond to those of former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu and other former officials of the Spanish Football Federation.

The material was intervened by the Civil Guard during the search of Contreras's home, investigated in the

Soule case

, a corruption process led by the National Court on the alleged diversion of almost eight million euros from the collection of the pools.

The League exercises the accusation in that case and has made those papers available to the Barcelona judge who is investigating the

Negreira case

, that is, the payment of 7.3 million euros from Barça to the former referee José María Enríquez Negreira for 17 years.

According to Negreira, the club paid him to ensure neutrality in arbitration decisions, which has led the Prosecutor's Office to accuse the entity of a continuous crime of corruption in the sports field.

The first page of that kind of Rosetta stone, written with a blue marker, contains a list of properties (real estate, parking lots, land, offices) and the names of the people or companies to which they supposedly belong.

The second page is the one that presents a more complex and misleading reading.

According to the interpretation made by La Liga, "the given names and surnames could coincide with the names and surnames of certain former directors of the FCB and the RFEF."

The letter from La Liga expressly mentions the names of Román Gómez Pontí (head of Barça's legal services during the Bartomeu period), Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu.

In the note, there is an allusion to a certain “Mr.

Rosell” next to an arrow after which is written “Palma de Mallorca”.

In the case of "Josep Maria", the name appears next to a bracket that seems to group people related to "checks: black money".

Each person appears linked to a bank or investment fund.

In the case of "Josep Maria";

whoever it is, it is referred to under the words “Catalan banking” and “big box”.

"It must be expressly stated that neither this part has any speculative spirit, nor does this letter imply the exercise of a specific accusation against anyone," the letter from La Liga qualifies.

Whether or not the note, which can hardly be deciphered without the help of its author, has something to do with the Negreira case is difficult to determine for now.

Contreras was a manager under the presidencies of Josep Lluís Núñez and Joan Gaspart, who allegedly promoted the hiring of the arbitrator;

according to the thesis of the prosecution, to rig the competitions in favor of the club.

The invoices date back to 2001, in the Gaspart stage, although sources of the investigation are convinced that the practice began earlier, with Núñez.

It is true that Negreira withdrew a good part of the money collected by Barça in cash by means of bearer checks, according to what the investigation has proven.

Contreras' writing, in any case, ends with that “

top secret

” warning and, then, some words that are even more mysterious, but that seem like a kind of safe-conduct in case there are problems, it is understood that with the justice.

"Clause: It is only possible to open it in the event of the greatest misfortune in the world for us."

To which the text adds: "We would willingly give it to avoid it."

Contreras, in any case, appears in the operation later and in a secondary plot: he was in charge of hiring Negreira's son, the sports

coach

Javier Enríquez, to prepare reports on the behavior of the referees on the pitch.

Contreras took a commission that accounted for 33% of the more than 400,000 euros that, between 2015 and 2018, Barça paid for these services.

Unlike what happened with his father, Javier Enríquez's works are accredited.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2023-03-22

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