Former Barcelona President Arrested by the Police

DBasia.news – Former Barcelona President, Josep Maria Bartomeu was arrested by the police regarding the Barcagate issue which had caused a stir in Spain when he was president of the club. Apart from Josep, the police also arrested several other people.

On Monday (01/03) morning, local time the police came to the Camp Nou, the Barcelona stadium asked the officers to leave his office temporarily while carrying out an investigation with a permit.

The Catalan police, specialized in dealing with local economic issues, are continuing the investigation that began in 2020.

Bartomeu, who resigned some time ago, was arrested, including according to the Daily mail of Barca CEO Oscar Grau, Roman Gomez Ponti, Head of Barca’s Law, Jaume Masferrer, who had coached Bartomeu and other names.

They will be questioned by the police regarding the Barcagate issue which has caused a stir in 2020 and heated up Barcelona’s internal issues this season. The arrests also occurred on the eve of Barcelona’s new presidential election.

What is Barcagate?

In February 2020, Cadena Serr, Spanish radio reported that Barcelona bypassed a company called I3 Ventures to spread negative news about some of the club’s important (senior) players.

I3 Ventures allegedly did this to those who were suspected of being ‘opponents’ or who disagreed with Bartomeu. Lionel Messi and his wife (Antonela), Gerard Pique, Pep Guardiola, Xavi Hernandes, Carles Puyol, and Joan Laporta (former President of Barca) were targeted.

I3 Ventures has multiple social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Barcelona paid the company up to one million euros only to ‘bring down’ those who opposed Bartomeu.

One of them is Messi, who is considered to have postponed discussions of his new contract, an issue that has heated up the fact that the player really wants to leave at the start of this season.

Catalan police have received reports since 2020. Despite an investigation by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found Barcelona innocent of the allegations, the police are continuing their investigation.

The arrest of Bartomeu and others did not affect the player’s performance on the pitch, but the news adds to the length of Barcelona’s problems this season from the issue of Messi’s departure, the performance of the team under Ronald Koeman, and the run-up to the election of a new president.