BARCELONA reportedly paid £1.2million to a company owned by then-Referees Committee vice president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira between 2016 and 2018.
That is according to Spanish outlet Cadena SER, which claims that the payments stopped at around the same time Negreira left the Referees Committee.
Barcelona have since responded to the claims with an official statement.
It read: "After the information broadcast today on the programme Que t’hi jugues on Ser Catalunya, Barcelona, knowing the facts which the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating related to payments made to external companies, wants to make clear:
"That in the past Barcelona contracted the services of an external technical consultant, who provided, in video form, technical reports referring to players from the youth categories of the Spanish state for the club’s technical secretary.
"Additionally, the relationship with this external provider expanded to technical reports related to professional refereeing, with a view to complementing the information required by the first-team and academy coaching staff, a usual practice in professional football clubs.
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"At present, these types of external services fall to a professional assigned to the Area of Football.
"Barcelona regrets that this information appeared just at the best sporting moment of the present season.
"Barcelona will take legal action against those who damage the club’s image with possible insinuations contrary to the reputation of the institution which could be produced based on this information."
The Barcelona prosecutor’s office is now investigating Negreira's company, DASNIL, as the former Referees Committee vice-president allegedly did not provide documentation showing he was providing a service to Barcelona.
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Instead, he told Cadena SER that he had provided advice verbally, including on how players should behave in front of referees.
Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has insisted that any payments legitimately made were then ended as a method of cost cutting.
He also claimed that the payments had existed as early as 2003.
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