ESPN.com · Oct 19, 2023
Barcelona's Laporta 'calm' over suspected bribery charges
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Barcelona president Joan Laporta said he remains calm despite being personally charged with suspected bribery over the refereeing scandal engulfing the Catalan club this week.
Laporta, 61, was added to the probe into payments worth over €7 million ($7.3m) made to companies linked to the former vice president of the refereeing committee, José María Enríquez Negreira, between 2001 and 2018.
"Knowing this judge's history, we were warned by our defence team this could happen, but as there is no crime of bribery, it cannot prosper," Laporta told Catalunya Radio on Thursday.
"I am a lawyer and I am calm about that. They can't prove anything because it's not true.