Barcelona club president Joan Laporta was formally charged with bribery in connection to the payments given to a Spanish refereeing official, according to Sam Wallace of the Telegraph.
The Guardian's Sid Lowe reported in February that Barcelona paid José María Enríquez Negreira more than €7 million over a period of 20 years. The money went to a company owned by Negreira.
Barça maintained the payments were for "technical reports related to professional refereeing" supplied by the company.
Prosecutors began a formal investigation into Barcelona in March, with multiple former club presidents implicated. Wallace detailed how the newest development creates what could be serious problems for Laporta.
"The bribery charge is much more serious for the 61-year-old, in his second spell as Barcelona president, because it carries a statute of limitations of 15 years rather than 10, as with the other four charges," he wrote. "That takes investigators back to 2008, to Laporta's first spell as president from 2003 to 2010."
The timing is less than ideal for Laporta as well with Barcelona's general meeting set to take place Saturday. Among other things, Barça's financial outlook is on the agenda and bound to face scrutiny.
This time last year, Laporta told supporters and club members that pulling a number of economic "levers" helped to stabilize Barcelona's finances. In effect, the club sacrificed long-term revenue in order to attain a short-term cash injection.
However, Barça reportedly still have outstanding debts of €207 million, and Wallace said Laporta and club officials could present what is a "a bleak financial future."
"Barcelona's finance vice-president, Eduard Romeu, told members on Wednesday that the club were still waiting for a key €40 million (£35 million) payment from an investor," he said. "German football financier Libero has delayed its initial payment for a €200 million investment in Barca Media, a digital offering specialising in non-fungible tokens, which the club still hope to take public on the Nasdaq stock exchange."
Now that he himself is included in the bribery investigation, Laporta could force more pointed questions from Barcelona members.
