Former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta (who resigned this month as a requirement to run for re-election next month) has been denounced to the National Court of Spain with several financial crimes including money laundering and collection of undue commissions. Most of Laporta's directive team, including acting president Rafael Yuste, have also been named in the complaint, which was filed last Friday by a club member, as reported by El Periódico (via EFE).
The complaint includes 38 documents, and it details an alleged network of companies, some based in Spain but others based in Cyprus, Dubai, Croatia, and Estonia, which "collected illicit commissions paid in opaque jurisdictions", as reported. According to the complaint, these funds were then reintroduced and laundered through seemingly legitimate businesses, and the documents point to Nike contracts and the construction of the new stadium.
FC Barcelona responded in a statement that the information in which the report was made is "untrue and based on presumably false or highly manipulated documents" and that they will study taking legal action against the newspaper, which "has published the story knowing irrefutably that the claim is based on false information and without taking into account the Club's version of events which was duly received."
Laporta also said in Catalunya Radio that the denounce has been made with the purpose of damaging his image in the pre-electoral time: "They've been trying to smear the electoral process, Barça, for some time now, and the strategy started in the media and now it's in a legal dimension."
In the coming days, the National Court of Spain will have distribute this complaint to a judge, who will decide if they admit it for processing or reject it.