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Negreira summoned as defendant in Barça payments case after ruling he is fit to testify

Barcelona, Spain, Jan 25 (EFE).- José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spain’s referees committee (CTA), has been summoned to testify in an investigation into millions of euros in payments he received from FC Barcelona.

Judge Joaquín Aguirre in Barcelona said Thursday that Negreira was mentally fit to be prosecuted even though he suffers from symptoms of dementia, legal sources confirmed to EFE. Negreira is due to testify on Feb. 21.

The examination of Negreira’s mental faculties was ordered after his defense team said the former referee, now 78 years old, suffers from a cognitive impairment that makes him unable to face criminal proceedings.

Negreira’s defense presented a report from the Alzheimer Center of Barcelona which certified that the former referee suffers from “mild dementia”.

In addition to Negreira, current FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta, and his predecessors, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bertomeu, as well as other former executives of the club and Negreira’s son, Javier Enriquez, are under investigation.

Prosecutors accuse the La Liga club of “continued sporting corruption”, breach of trust and false documentation over payments totaling 7.3 million euros to a firm belonging to Enríquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018.

The club has denied any wrongdoing and has acknowledged the payments, saying it had received technical reports on refereeing as part of the deal which Barca insists was above board. EFE

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