Spanish giants Barcelona have this afternoon been forced into releasing a response statement, denying claims from now-former vice-president Emili Rousaud that a member of the Blaugrana’s staff has been lining their own pockets with the club’s funds.

Barca board members depart

Safe to say, it has been something of a chaotic day at the Camp Nou to this point.

In an absolute bolt from the blue, it was announced this morning that 6 members of the Catalan giants’ board had come to the decision to step down.

Vice presidents Emili Rousand and Enrique Tombas were the key names, with directors Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia having followed suit.

A statement explaining the reasoning behind the walkout was quickly forthcoming, with Tombas and co. having cited major concern regarding the leadership of controversial Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu, and the direction of the club moving forward:

‘We hereby want to communicate that the undersigned managers have transferred to President Bartomeu our decision to irrevocably resign from our position as managers of FC Barcelona.’

‘We have reached this point by not being able to reverse the criteria and forms of management of the club in the face of the important challenges of the future and, especially, from the new post-pandemic scenario. We must also highlight our disenchantment with the unfortunate episode on social networks, known as ‘Barcagate’, which we learned about through the press.’

Rousand’s bombshell

As outlined above, however, the departure of the key members of Barcelona’s board could well be the very least of Bartomeu’s problems moving forward.

Just hours after news of his resignation was made official, now-former Vice-President Emili Rousand suggested in no uncertain terms that an unidentified member of staff at the Camp Nou is making personal use of the club’s treasury.

During an interview with RAC1 a short time ago, Rousand was asked whether he feels someone has had their hand in the Blaugrana’s funds, to which the Barcelona-born businessman replied:

‘Sincerely, I think so. Who was it? I don’t think it was someone from the board. I don’t know who it was, but I can speculate.’

‘When you pay a million euros for something worth 100,000 euros, that could bring benefit to someone inside or outside the club. I don’t think it’s someone on the board but if there’s a discrepancy then it means someone is benefiting in an illicit way.’

The ex-board member then went on to discuss the bizarre recent ‘SocialMediaGate’ controversy at Barca, which saw president Bartomeu forced to deny claims that he had hired a company by the name of I3 Ventures to improve his own reputation, whilst simultaneously taking aim at the likes of Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi.

Rousand, though, certainly appeared to hint at some level of wrongdoing on Bartomeu’s part, in insinuating that his former boss presented false figures during the club’s most recent audit:

‘With ‘SocialMediaGate’, we have three problems. The first is understanding whether the social media networks are being used to destroy others’ reputations – I don’t think that is the case.’

‘Secondly, is the €3 million paid for those services market price? And third, it’s unquestionable that the payments have been made in stages [to circumvent the board]. The issue is the fragmentation of the invoices. After the audit, we couldn’t look the other way.’

‘The president’s offer to step down came when the report was about the drop. It’s suspicious. The president knows what he puts in the audit and that’s one of the factors that concerns us.’

‘Legal action that may correspond’

Rousand’s claims, meanwhile, have since forced Barcelona into releasing a statement of their own.

In a post across the club’s official website and social media platforms a short time ago, the La Liga champions ‘categorically denied’ any form of corrupt activity, before hinting at imminent legal action against their former chief:

‘In the light of the serious and unfounded accusations made this morning by Mr. Emili Rousaud, ex institutional vice president at the Club, in different interviews with the media, FC Barcelona categorically denies any activity that can be described as corruption, therefore, reserves the right to any legal action that may correspond.’

📋 FC Barcelona statement https://t.co/70Vcg4Lyrs

— FC Barcelona (from 🏠) (@FCBarcelona) April 10, 2020

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The post Chaos mounts at Barcelona as departing Vice President Suggests ‘illicit’ use of club funds/Blaugrana threaten legal action appeared first on News Africa Now.