Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, the club’s CEO Oscar Grau and head of legal services Roman Gomez Ponti have been arrested following a raid at the club’s offices on Monday.
ESPN reported that police arrived at Barca’s offices to search for evidence in relation to the “Barcagate” social media scandal and later made the arrests.
It’s been one year since it was alleged that Barca, under Bartomeu at the time, paid a third-party company to smear former players, current players and presidential candidates on social media.
Barca strongly denied the allegations and rescinded their contract with I3 Ventures, the company behind the social media accounts.
‼️People who were involved in the #BarçaGate Scandal and got arrested today:
— Barça Worldwide (@BarcaWorldwide) March 1, 2021
🔹Josep Maria Bartomeu (ex-president)
🔸Jaume Masferrer (ex-advisor)
🔹Oscar Geau (ex-CEO)
🔸Romà Gómez (ex-head legal counsel)
OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED🙏 pic.twitter.com/cX1aAEUbde
The club later confirmed a partnership with the company but denied using a number of social media accounts to tarnish the reputation of their critics.
The arrests come less than a week before the La Liga giants were due to host their presidential elections.
Victor Font, Joan Laporta and Toni Freia are on the final ballot for the historic vote.
Former president Laporta is favourite to retake the role.
The last FC Barcelona president to not face a police arrest: Joan Laporta Estruch. pic.twitter.com/uJmUpWXu1h
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 1, 2021