Barcelona football club of Spain has announced it will proceed with legal actions against former Vice-President Emili Rousaud (pictured above) after he alleged in an interview that one of the club’s executives was using club funds to line his own pockets.
Rousaud, was one of the Barcelona board members seen as a successor to Barca president Josep Bartomeu (pictured above) but Bartomeu informed him alongside several other members that they will have no part to play in the new-look team of directors.
Alongside Rousaud, Bartomeu informed vice president Enrique Tombas and directors Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia that they will have to resign.
Bartomeu’s move came after a year of scandals that faced the Barca team and board members.
Reports emerged alleging that the club board hired a social media firm to criticize players to boost Bartomeu’s reputation as the person not behind Barca’s on and off the pitch problems while a Lionel Messi and Eric Abidal ( a former player and current club official) blasted each other on social media.
The club’s directors ousted by Bartomeu said the club leadership had to be reviewed if the club was to move forward.
Shockingly, Rousaud brought more public furor on the club leadership after he alleged in an interview that a top board member was using club funds to make himself richer.
Barcelona have now denied all allegations of corruption, saying Rousaud will have his day in court,
“In the face of grave and unfounded allegations made by Mr Emili Rousaud, the club’s former Vice President, in a number of media interviews, the Board of Directors categorically denies any action that could be described as corruption and have agreed to bring the corresponding criminal action accordingly,” a club statement reads.
“In this regard, the Board wishes to emphasise that in the light of these allegations, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the company in charge of conducting the audit on the monitoring services of social networks contracted by the club, have reiterated that its work is still ongoing and, therefore, is without any provisional or definitive conclusions.
“The Board of Directors have agreed that, once the audit is completed, it will analyse the content and conclusions derived from it, publish them, and will make their decisions and take appropriate measures based on their final result.”
