Barcelona Bribery Investigation Leads To A Raid By The Spanish Football Association

 Police on Thursday conducted a raid on the football referees office of Spain's scandal-plagued football association as part of an ongoing investigation into claims FC Barcelona was bribed for favourable rulings.

According to AFP, the judge conducting an investigation into payments allegedly made to a company owned by former top referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira ordered the search.

Police started their investigation early on Thursday at the CTA Referees Technical Committee offices, which are located at the headquarters of the RFEF Football Federation outside of Madrid.

According to a statement, a judge in Barcelona had authorised the search "as part of the investigation into the suspect payments made by the Catalan club" to Negreira.

Authorities believe that between 2001 and 2018, Barca paid Dasnil 95, a business owned by Negreira, millions of euros in an effort to influence corrupt officials to make favourable refereeing decisions.

The club acknowledged paying Dasnil, but said the firm was compensated to give it refereeing advice. All wrongdoing is denied.

Joaquin Aguirre, a magistrate, also declared on Thursday that he will look into the club and a number of its past directors for possible bribery.

Barcelona's payment of "one of the CTA's three vice presidents through intermediary companies" is undeniable, the court stated in his ruling.

The payments, which lasted roughly 18 years, increased rapidly "from an initial 70,000 euros a year to 700,000 euros" and ceased when Negreira left his post in 2018, he said.