Bartomeu arrested

[Barcaman]

Police ARREST Barcelona EX-PRESIDENT after RAID on Camp Nou.

Ex-Barcelona president Josip Maria Bartomou has reportedly been arrested. Catalan police raided the offices of LaLiga giants Barcelona, amid a CORRUPTION investigation.

It was claimed that the club whilst under Bartomou?s presidency had paid a social media company to discredit key club figures - in a scandal daubed ?Bar?a-gate?.

Bartomeu and his board of directors resigned last year, after a controversial falling out with star player Lionel Messi.

Catalan police have confirmed they have made several arrests in connection to the raid, but would not confirm the number of people arrested or their identities.

 

[Messigician]

F

 

[Luftstalag14]

Apparently the Catalan police also arrested the CEO Oscar Grau, the head of legal services Rom?n G?mez and the former adviser to the presidency, Jaume Masferrer.

https://www.palco23.com/clubes/jose...car-grau-detenidos-por-el-caso-barcagate.html

 

[Luftstalag14]

Can't say it is a great day for us at all, it further made the club look like a circus and might turn off more current and potential sponsors and advertisers etc.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

Can't say it is a great day for us at all, it further made the club look like a circus and might turn off more current and potential sponsors and advertisers etc.

That's the big problem here. Criminal acts between the CEO and the president are as bad as it can get when it comes to sponsor deals. Yes, we get a new president next week, but the organisation stays the same. The investigation is also against the club, not only against Grau or Bartomeu as private persons.

Many big companies have stipulated in their company policy that they don't deal with such organisations. It is a good day because it looks like Barto and his friends don't come away with it, but it is a very bad day for the image of the club. No need to mention how bad it is given the bad economical situation the club is in.

 

[Devils]

https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/club...rting-crisis-not-an-institutional-or-club-one

Damn

 

[ronniecro]

is this the real life? is this just fantasy?

 

[Luftstalag14]

That's the big problem here. Criminal acts between the CEO and the president are as bad as it can get when it comes to sponsor deals. Yes, we get a new president next week, but the organisation stays the same. The investigation is also against the club, not only against Grau or Bartomeu as private persons.

Many big companies have stipulated in their company policy that they don't deal with such organisations. It is a good day because it looks like Barto and his friends don't come away with it, but it is a very bad day for the image of the club. No need to mention how bad it is given the bad economical situation the club is in.

If somehow it was proven or established that any illegal practices were carried out by or under the direct order of Bartomeu, Oscar Grau or those two other folks that were arrested, I don't know how the entire club/organization will be implicated. Nevertheless this is making our club look bad yet again, no question about it.

What I don't understand is what is the ground of this arrest. Didn't the PwC audit contracted by the club already vindicate the club by saying they didn't hire VI3 to purposely target players with a purpose to tarnish their reputation or something? Did PwC lie or something?

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

So much trouble just before the copa return leg

 

[Horatio]

Although Luftanschlag brings up a fair point and I agree this will hurt club image, my lifelong dream was to see this man behind bars. So yeah, I am still mildly happy to read this.

 

[Andresito]

I buy the argument of sponsors not wanting to associate with a dramatic club like we've been for the past years.

But at the same time it's good that the world sees what kind of morons have been running the club and that Barcelona is at its current state due to these people.
Now with them gone, the club can hopefully go back to what it used to be image wise.

It's funny to a certain point for other supporters, but now that people like Bartomeu are actually getting serious consequences, I think people will show more sympathy towards the club and rather feel sorry for us.

 

[Horatio]

It's funny to a certain point for other supporters, but now that people like Bartomeu are actually getting serious consequences, I think people will show more sympathy towards the club and rather feel sorry for us.

Plus it sets precedence and makes the next one in line think twice to engage in shady deals.........is what I hope for.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

What I don't understand is what is the ground of this arrest. Didn't the PwC audit contracted by the club already vindicate the club by saying they didn't hire VI3 to purposely target players with a purpose to tarnish their reputation or something? Did PwC lie or something?

A subsequent investigation by audit company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) ruled that Barcelona had not commissioned the company i3 Ventures to run a smear campaign against important club figures. It also said the club had not paid the company over market price but Spanish paper El Mundo reported that the police had concluded that an audit commissioned by an interested party could not be 'conclusive' and wanted to continue their investigation.

Payments to the company added up to 1m euros and had been broken down into amounts of less than 200,000 euros meaning they evaded the club's internal checking mechanism.

Six board members subsequently quit, including Emili Rousaud who made the startling statement to Catalan radio RAC1: 'I think someone has had their hand in the till, although I don't know who. You pay ?1million [to I3 Ventures] for a job that has a market price of ?100,000.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/s...p-Maria-Bartomeu-arrested-Spanish-police.html

Guess that the ground of this arrest will have something to do money laundering. The accusations of Rousaud, an ex-board member who resigned right after Barcagate, are pretty serious.

 

[Horatio]

moneylaundering or embezzlement.

 

[Luftstalag14]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/s...p-Maria-Bartomeu-arrested-Spanish-police.html

Guess that the ground of this arrest will have something to do money laundering. The accusations of Rousaud, an ex-board member who resigned right after Barcagate, are pretty serious.

So basically the Catalan Police did not trust the findings out the PwC audit and wanted to carry out their own investigations? The fact that Rousaud resigned and came out with those accusations is certainly serious and indicates something fishy indeed, and I get why the police raided the club offices, but I don't understand why they would arrest Bartomeu and the other three men before they prove any wrongdoings and actually indict them first?