The operation comes a few days before the elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona. Catalan regional police announced, Monday 1er March, having carried out several “Arrests” after his searches at the club’s headquarters as part of an operation targeting, according to several media, former president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
The spokesperson for the Catalan regional police refused to disclose the identities of those arrested, contenting himself with specifying that his agents were “In the process of making arrests”. According to several media – including Cadena SER radio, which is generally very well informed about the affairs of the Blaugrana club – Mr. Bartomeu is one of them. La Cadena SER also ensures that the director general in place, Oscar Grau, and the legal director, Roman Gomez Ponti, were also arrested.
Also according to the Spanish media, the searches carried out at the headquarters of FC Barcelona are linked to the investigation into the “Barçagate”, a case that surfaced a year ago.
Slander Campaign
On February 17, 2020, FC Barcelona denied being at the origin of a campaign of slander targeting club figures on social networks, with the aim of improving the image of Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned on 27 last october.
La Cadena SER had shown in an investigation that Barca paid one million euros in six separate invoices to the company I3 Ventures, with which the club have since cut ties. “Have they been given the task of monitoring social networks? The answer is yes. Have they been tasked with discrediting people or institutions on social networks? The answer is no. And we will prosecute all those who accuse us of this ”, then defended Bartomeu, who finally threw in the towel at the end of October.
This police operation comes six days before the elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona scheduled for Sunday, where the socios (supporters-shareholders) will be called upon to choose between Joan Laporta, Toni Freixa and Victor Font.
