The Civil Guard questioned the former financial director of FC Barcelona, Pancho Schröder, several weeks ago about payments to José María Enríquez Negreira. According to EL MUNDO, the Central Operating Unit (UCO) interviewed the person in charge of the club's finances during the presidency of Josep Maria Bartomeu as a witness for several hours to clarify the internal protocol followed to pay the invoices issued by the former vice president of the Technical Arbitration Committee (CTA) and who was responsible for carrying out these operations within the organization.
According to sources close to the investigations led by Judge Joaquín Aguirre, Schröder detailed the existing disbursement protocol at FC Barcelona and provided a technical explanation of the relationship with suppliers in the Catalan club. The former financial head of Barça told the Civil Guard that at no time did their department notice that the companies Nilsad, Dasnil, or Soccercam were linked to the second-in-command of the arbitration body, and that the payment of the invoices for arbitration advice was made after confirming that the contracts were valid, current, and that the Sports Area of the club confirmed the receipt of the contracted work.
The Civil Guard asked this former executive why the Compliance Department did not raise any red flags when dealing with an active arbitration official, and Schröder indicated that this department was established during Bartomeu's presidency. He explained that since it was a very old contract, dating back about two decades, and in cases of contract renewals like this one, favorable Compliance reports were not a prerequisite. Therefore, he emphasized that the Compliance Area did not analyze these companies as they usually did with suppliers who had recently started working with the club.
They never suspected Negreira's company
Schröder detailed the usual process for payments to external companies at Barça, emphasizing that in their department, they simply verified that the work was covered by a valid contract, that the work had been completed, and proceeded with the payments. He also stressed that during his time, FC Barcelona invoiced around 1 billion euros and had hundreds of service providers, so at no point did Negreira's companies raise any suspicions for them.
Finally, he denied receiving any instructions from the club's president regarding these payments, having any contact with Negreira or his son, who also invoiced the club, and claimed to have found out that Barça had hired him when the scandal broke out over a year ago.
The interrogation of Schröder is part of the judge's order to the Civil Guard to determine which club officials had "control of the situation" regarding these financial operations. As revealed by this newspaper, the intention of the Negreira case investigator with the testimonies of mid-level executives of the club is to determine whether to expand or reduce the list of suspects while delving into the internal dynamics to find out if there was an order from the presidents for the payments to Negreira to bypass the internal controls of the club.
They were unaware of the destination of the money
The former financial head also claimed to be unaware of the final destination of the money received by the former second-in-command of the Spanish referees, who, as the investigation has shown, withdrew most of the funds in cash from his accounts.
Judge Aguirre currently considers former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as former senior executives like Óscar Grau, as suspects due to indications of sports corruption. The judge has documented that Barça paid around eight million euros to Negreira over 20 years and maintains that the club's intention was to influence outcomes in their favor.