Important development: Real Madrid's request rejected in the Negreira case

Will the case be resolved soon?

A Barcelona court has rejected Real Madrid's request to extend the Negreira case investigation by a further six months, the latest twist in the affair surrounding payments made to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the referees' technical committee, by Barcelona.

According to "Marca", the judge overseeing the investigation threw out Real Madrid's request, which the public prosecution had backed, to extend the investigation period beyond its deadline of today, Tuesday 1 September, for another six months.

At the heart of the case are payments totalling 7.3 million euros that Barcelona made to Negreira and his son Javier between 2001 and 2018.

Rejecting the extension did not mean closing the investigation for good. Two witnesses are still due to give evidence next November: Gerard López, the former Barcelona player and former manager of the club's reserve team, and the reserve team's delegate Antonio A.

Those two testimonies scheduled for November do not warrant extending the investigation, the judge explained, given that their hearing was agreed before the end of the last extension period.

The judge also refused to extend the investigation while awaiting the Barcelona court's decision on additional investigative procedures that Real Madrid had requested, which the court had rejected earlier.

Should the Barcelona court later approve Real Madrid's request, the judge pointed out, the investigative procedures will not become void even if they are carried out after the investigation period ends.

On 14 July, Real Madrid had submitted a request to extend the investigation by six months, based on the findings of the Civil Guard's investigation, which they argued revealed "elements and direct evidence and firmly established indications" of an ongoing crime relating to sporting corruption.

So the court rejected Real Madrid's request to extend the case, while certain specific judicial procedures continue before the final step towards closing the investigation is taken.

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