The plot thickens at civil-war riddled Barcelona as former vice-president Emili Rousaud has backed up his stance and doubled down on allegations of corruption at Camp Nou as the behind-the-scenes imbroglio entangling the Blaugrana continue to fester.<\/p>\n
Immediately after Barcelona\u2019s announcement on Monday that they would take legal action against Rousaud after his claims “someone had their hand in the till” at the club, an uncowed Rousaud issued a statement via\u00a0Mundo Deportivo<\/em>\u00a0declaring his readiness for a court battle if necessary. He was one of six members of Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board to resign last week.<\/p>\n It read: “For the sole purpose of responding to the announcement made by the FC Barcelona spokesperson about filing a criminal complaint against me for the statements made regarding the so-called ‘BarcaGate’ case, I want to state the following:<\/p>\n “1. The existence of corruption within the club is evident in the fact that it has already been shown that contracts between related companies\u2026<\/p>\n “2. The statements I made regarding this matter are absolutely true and demonstrable; the opinions that I have expressed are absolutely well-founded, which allows me to state that the announced complaint has no basis whatsoever.<\/p>\n “3. Unfortunately, when I made the club aware of these irregularities it became the cause of my resignation. However, it cannot be underestimated that there is a moral \u2013 and legal \u2013 obligation to publicly report irregular actions that may constitute crime.”<\/p>\n Rousaud accordingly confirmed the matter has already been handed over to his legal representatives and maintained that he has “never questioned the honourability of our beloved club and its employees”.<\/p>\n Club president Bartomeu\u2019s standing has been appreciably weakened in recent months over apparent clashes with Lionel Messi over various issues like the star player’s future at the club and the messy handling of pay cuts given to the squad in response to the coronavirus pandemic that reflected badly on the image of the players.<\/p>\n Rousaud, Enrique Tombas, Silvio Elias, Josep Pont, Jordi Calsamiglia and Maria Texidor stepped down in the ensuing political turmoil.<\/p>\n The boardroom rot at Barca had apparently gotten to such a lamentable state that even prompted prospective presidential candidate Victor Font, leader of the Si al futur group seeking to take control of the Camp Nou boardroom, to issue an open letter at the weekend that claimed Barcelona were at risk of “economic bankruptcy” and that “moral decay” had set in at the club.<\/p>\n Font, like Rousaud, honed in on Barca’s alleged scurrilous agreement with the PR company 13 Ventures, which was alleged to have conducted social media campaigns to boot-lick Bartomeu while disparaging current and former players critical of his regime. Both Barcelona and 13 Ventures have vehemently denied the claims.<\/p>\n On Monday, Barcelona confirmed Bartomeu’s recent board reshuffle.<\/p>\n Jordi Moix, Pau Vilanova and Oriol Tomas took on vice-presidential briefs, with Marta Plana secretary of the board of directors and David Bellver becoming treasurer. Javier Bordas is the manager responsible for first-team football, with Xavier Vilajoana overseeing Barca B, youth teams and women’s football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"