FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been charged with bribery and other crimes.
The judge overseeing 'Caso Negreira', as it is known in Spain, has decided to indict FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta for bribery, sports corruption, unfair administration and forgery in a commercial document as reported by news agency the EFE.
'Caso Negreira' involves the payment of around $7.7 million (€7.3 million) which Barca made to the former Vice-President of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, and his son over an 18-year period being investigated.
Barca were charged with "continued corruption in the sports field" in April as UEFA
The European football governing body decided that the Catalans should be allowed to compete in the 2023/2024 edition of its elite competition the Champions League, but reserved the right to administer further punishment down the line if further evidence emerged.
In September, the judge overseeing the case, Judge Joaquín Aguirre recommended that the charge of continued corruption be changed to one of bribery as Negreira was a public figure at the time.
Two former Barca presidents, Sandro Rossell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, and a pair of ex-club officials have been accused of bribery, sports corruption, unfair administration and forgery in a commercial document.
And according to El Periodico, the Spanish newpaper has had access to a court order which details how Aguirre has agreed to indict current Barca leader Joan Laporta for the same crimes after concluding that payments made to Negreira from 2008 to 2010, during Laporta's first reign, constitute "continued bribery".
Aguirre has decided that not just Laporta but all members of his board from the mentioned time period played "an effective responsibility in making the decision to make the allegedly illicit payments" to Negreira and his son Javier.
Laporta has repeatedly denied that Barca committed any wrongdoing and insists that the payments were made for honest consultation work.
He is yet to respond to the latest developments in the case, which come at the end of football's international break and 10 days ahead of Barca hosting their bitter rivals Real Madrid in the latest installment of El Clasico.