For the first time since the eruption of the arbitration scandal and the accusations of corruption that have shaken FC Barcelona for several weeks, Real Madrid came out of its silence on Sunday. The Madrid club has announced that it will ask to “be part of the investigation procedure” as an “injured party”.
On Saturday, President Florentino Pérez called an extraordinary meeting of the Madrid club’s management committee the next day. The objective was to react to the indictment on Friday by the Spanish justice of Barça and several of its former leaders for “corruption”, “breach of trust” and “false business records” in the case of the payments of Money suspects from the Catalan club to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, ex-senior official of Spanish arbitration, also prosecuted.
On Sunday, Real demonstrated in a press release “his deep concern about the seriousness of the facts”, and agreed that “to defend his legitimate interests, he will ask to be part of the investigation procedure when the judge opens it to the injured parties”, which is close to the constitution en partie civile in French law.
These proceedings, decided by the Barcelona public prosecutor’s office, target Barça as a legal entity, as well as Josep Maria Bartomeu, head of FC Barcelona between 2014 and 2020, and Sandro Rosell, president of the Catalan club between 2010 and 2014. Oscar Grau and Albert Soler, members of Bartomeu’s former team, are also being prosecuted.