José María Enríquez Negreira underwent a new forensic analysis on March 24, the third since the Negreira case broke out, which investigates the payment of 7.3 million euros by Futbol Club Barcelona to the number two of the Spanish referees and his son, Javier Enríquez, between 2011 and 2018. The result of that examination is that “he does not have the volitional and cognitive capacities to understand the scope of the judicial procedure,” according to the document that is already in the hands of the judge and to which EL PAÍS has had access. The document concludes that, since January 18, 2024, when a previous examination took place, there has been a “worsening,” “both from a psychometric and clinical point of view.”
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The assessment of Enríquez Negreira, who was vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) when he began receiving payments from Barça, was requested by his lawyer to determine if his cognitive deterioration – he presents a major mixed-type neurocognitive disorder and possibly suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, according to the document – prevented him from facing the trial.
The examination carried out indicates that the short-term episodic memory of the 81-year-old man is “severely affected,” which means “inability to retain recent information, with probable presence of confabulation as a compensatory mechanism, increasing vulnerability to external suggestion.” Regarding long-term memory, “he continues to refer – the text says – numerous aspects related to his profession, remembers the names of former colleagues and officials of the Spanish Referees Committee.
Enríquez Negreira went to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Catalonia (IMLC) on March 24 to be examined again by a forensic expert, who had to assess whether his cognitive deterioration prevents him from facing the criminal process for the Negreira case. The defense of the former refereeing official, 80 years old, had argued that his client had worsened in his dementia, so the Barcelona judge investigating the case requested a new expert assessment.
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The instruction of the Negreira case has involved the courts of different presidents of Futbol Club Barcelona, from Joan Gaspart, who started that practice, to his successors, Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell, and Josep Maria Bartomeu. All of them have denied that their goal was to buy referee favors and linked those payments to reports made by the former number two of the Spanish referees about the referees who were going to officiate matches against Barcelona. The descriptions that Negreira and his son made served, according to their agreement, to describe the temperament of each referee and provide the Barça technicians with information to manage issues specific to each match in the relationship with the referees.
Ernesto Valverde, who managed the blaugrana first team between 2017 and 2020, also testified as a witness and stated that, although such reports are common in other clubs, he was unaware of their existence at Barcelona. The coach Luis Enrique also denied having knowledge of the reports on referees for which Negreira and his son were supposedly hired. Barça delegate Carles Naval, in a later statement, said that he received the reports by email and once their content was confirmed, he validated their existence so they could be paid. He made them available to whoever wanted to use them.
The club treasurer, Alfons Castro, who also testified before the judge but representing Futbol Club Barcelona, assured that the entity always acted correctly, adhering to legality and its evolution. That statement, made during the Barça club’s electoral process, was important since he acted as the club’s legal representative, which is charged as a legal entity for the alleged crimes of disloyal administration and corruption.
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