Nou Camp raid and arrests in Barca corruption probe

poliCe raided the Nou Camp and arrested former Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu yesterday as part of an investigation into alleged corruption at the club. Current chief executive oscar Grau, head of legal services roman Gomez ponti and Bartomeu’s former adviser Jaume Masferrer were also detained. Bartomeu and his board were ousted in october 2020 while an investigation into the club’s hiring of the company i3 Ventures, to monitor its presence on social media, was ongoing. one year ago, Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported that i3 was linked to a series of social media accounts running negative stories about club figures who were in potential opposition to Bartomeu, and the club was accused of having paid massively over the odds for their services. a subsequent investigation by audit company pricewaterhouseCoopers ruled that Barcelona had not commissioned i3 Ventures to run a smear campaign against important club figures. it also stated the club had not paid the company over the market price, but police concluded that an audit commissioned by an interested party could not be ‘conclusive’ and have continued the investigation. When it was revealed payments to the company added up to ¤1million and had been broken down into amounts of less than ¤200,000 to avoid the club’s internal checking mechanism, six board members quit — including former director emili rousaud. Bartomeu has always denied any wrongdoing but yesterday he was picked up at his home and taken in for questioning.