Despite the threat of legal action against him by Barcelona, the club’s former vice president, Emili Rousaud, has repeated his claims of corruption at the club, turning the heat up further on beleaguered president, Josep Maria Bartomeu.
In an interview with ESPN, Rousaud has stood by his initial, inflammatory, statement, and believes the legal action is just “posturing” from the Barca board.
“They say there has been no corruption, which is what I disagree with,” he said. “For me, the fact they have divided contracts and bills — and, in addition, one of them is with a company based in a fiscal paradise — to avoid the club’s internal controls speaks of corruption.
“[The internal controls] are there to guarantee that the contracts are adjusted to the market price and that just services are contracted. It’s not necessary to wait for the final results [of an external audit]. It’s obvious that, in this case, they have evidently acted in bad faith.”
Such an unsavoury episode for the club, following the incredibly poorly handled sacking of Ernesto Valverde and subsequent appointment of Quique Setien, not to mention poor transfer market moves – the emergency purchase of Martin Braithwaite springs to mind – is surely another nail in the coffin for Bartomeu.
In many respects the lockdown has given the president some unexpected extra time, as it’s highly likely that protests against him would’ve reached fever pitch by now, were the supporters allowed in the stadium.
Even before the news of the resignations of six board members, Bartomeu was being roundly booed each time he made his way to his seat in the presidential box at the Camp Nou.
Right now, he’s hanging on by a thread.