The chaos at the Camp Nou is really about to explode.
Last Thursday night, six Barcelona board members resigned from their posts.
That included vice presidents Emili Rousand and Enrique Tombas, plus four other directors: Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia.
According to 101greatgoals, the resignations were largely seen as an attack on the club’s President Josep Maria Bartomeu.
After quitting from the board, the six directors published a letter explaining their actions.
It centres around the commercial relationship between the Catalan giants and a social media company called I3 Ventures.
Here’s what’s not in dispute: Barcelona hired I3 Ventures to run social media accounts for the club.
How much did I3 Ventures receive and what was the scope of their brief? The Guardian’s Sid Lowe reported:
The allegations, first reported by Cadena SER Radio, are that payments totalling €900,000 were made to the company I3 Ventures to run social-media accounts and websites that attacked opposition figures, players past and present, and defended the reputation of the president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Barcelona, Bartomeu and I3 Ventures have strongly denied wrongdoing, with the president describing the allegations as “completely false”, but either way the episode has made things worse.
As mentioned above, Emili Rousaud quit his post as Barcelona’s vice-president on Thursday night.
Rousaud has since held a radio interview with RAC1 where he said that someone at club had had their “hand in the till”:
‘’If the auditors tell us that the cost of this service is 100,000 euros and we paid one million, it’s clear that someone has put their hands in the till.
‘’I have no evidence and cannot say who.
‘’This contract had been broken into pieces of €200,000 so that it would not have to go through the control commission.’’
For the record, Barcelona denied Rousaud’s accusations.
The club hit back with a statement which said:
‘’In the face of the serious and unfounded allegations made this morning by Mr. Emili Rousaud, the club’s former vice president, in various media interviews, FC Barcelona categorically denies any action that could be described as corruption.
‘’The resignations of members of the board of directors announced in the last few hours have taken place as a result of the remodeling of the board promoted by President Josep Bartomeu this week, and which will be completed in the coming days.’’
On Sunday, Spanish paper Sport have got their hands on the initial findings from auditors Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC).
In an explosive set of details published Sunday, PWC have said that the Barcelona’s contract with I3 Ventures was only worth up to 150,000 euros.
So why did Barcelona pay 980,000 euros to the social media company?
Moreover, why was the contract seemingly structured as to avoid oversight at the Camp Nou?
Reporting on PWC’s findings, Sport reveal:
‘’It’s been proven that an invoice has been ripped into five parts to avoid being brought before the Adjudication Committee.
‘’The invoices were 198,000, just below the 200,000 mark which requires them to be passed by the Control Commission.’’
In another suggestion of wrongdoing, Sport reveal PWC’s discovery that invoices relating to the I3 Ventures-Barcelona deal were “destroyed”. Sport say:
‘’(The) investigation into Barca’s deal with i3 Ventures will reveal the cost of the company’s services were way above the market value & invoices were deliberately destroyed.’’
One point that needs further fleshing out is the claim that “I3 Ventures (ran) social-media accounts and websites that attacked opposition figures, players past and present”, as stated in the letter of resignation of the six Barcelona directors.
It remains unclear which players were specifically targeted, according to the accusations.
However, it’s worth paying attention to some of the recent fallouts at the Camp Nou.
After Eric Adibal suggested that Barcelona’s players were culpable in Valverde’s sacking, Messi took to social media to hit back.
SEE ALSO | Did Lionel Messi Actually Pay Ronaldinho’s Bail? See His UNBELIEVABLE Reaction
Messi accused Abidal of “dirtying” the reputation of the squad by making generalised comments without naming any specific players.
This article was most recently revised and updated 5 years ago
