Ex-Barcelona Legal Chief Points To Board Over €1.7m Neymar Fee
FC Barcelona continues to answer for decisions taken during Josep Maria Bartomeu’s presidency, with another episode from that era now working its way through a Barcelona courtroom. Former club legal chief Roman Gomez Ponti has told the court that responsibility for approving a €1.7 million payment tied to the Neymar tax case rested with the board rather than his own department, reopening questions about how the settlement’s legal costs were signed off.
As AS has reported, Gomez Ponti appeared before Investigating Court No. 16 in Barcelona as part of an inquiry launched after a complaint from prosecutors, who allege that around €4 million was diverted through commissions and intermediary fees during Bartomeu’s presidency without the club being properly informed. That broader allegation forms the backdrop to the specific payment now under examination, which went to Jose Angel Gonzalez Franco, Bartomeu’s personal lawyer in the Neymar case.
Barcelona ultimately admitted two tax offences linked to the Brazilian’s 2013 signing and accepted a €5.5 million fine as part of the settlement. Prosecutors contend that Gonzalez Franco was representing Bartomeu personally rather than the club, whose defence was handled separately by Cristobal Martell, and that the €1.7 million fee was agreed before receiving proper board approval.
Gomez Ponti distanced himself from the decision, saying his role was limited to offering an opinion, though he defended the sum as proportionate given the lawyer’s contribution to negotiations and the financial saving the settlement produced. A representative for AIG, the club’s directors’ liability insurer, added that the company covered an initial €200,000 but rejected later requests approaching €1 million, a detail that speaks directly to broader questions around Barcelona’s financial reporting and spending during that period.
The case traces back to the forensic review commissioned once Joan Laporta returned to the presidency, an audit that has repeatedly resurfaced old obligations tied to the club’s historic finances. Years after that review began, it is still producing fresh testimony and keeping the previous administration under active judicial scrutiny.
For the current board, the episode adds another thread to an already complex picture of institutional oversight and member scrutiny over major financial decisions. Barcelona are, once again, being asked to account for choices made in an era the club has spent years trying to move past.
