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Barcelona President Joan Laporta Charged with Bribery of Referees amid Investigation

Barcelona club president Joan Laporta was formally charged with bribery in connection to the payments given to a Spanish refereeing official, according to Sam Wallace of the Telegraph.

The Guardian's Sid Lowe reported in February that Barcelona paid José María Enríquez Negreira more than €7 million over a period of 20 years. The money went to a company owned by Negreira.

Barça maintained the payments were for "technical reports related to professional refereeing" supplied by the company.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.