Barcelona is again under investigation for suspected financial wrongdoing connected to the 2018 acquisition of Brazilian winger Malcom.
Reports from El Periódico and Catalan Police claim the club may have compensated intermediaries €10 million for services never carried out, so opening new queries about possible tax fraud and accounting fraud under Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Investigators claim that “mediation services” in Malcom’s €42 million transfer from Bordeaux were paid €10 million to a company named Business Futbol España (BFE). Still, the services are thought to be fake or significantly overblown. Malcom’s initial employment contract was purposefully arranged to lower reported income and avoid tax obligations by adjusting Malcom’s initial work contract, the Mossos d’Esquadra claim.
The News Chronicle observed from police investigations that the player deliberately altered his financial agreement, turning simple income payments into layered transactions routed through BFE. Researchers believe this change enabled Barcelona to avoid withholding levies that would have cost the team roughly half of the stated sum. Documents said to reveal several bogus invoices and a backdated agreement meant to justify the dubious payments.
At the focus of the inquiry are former president Josep Maria Bartomeu as well as many ex-board members, including Oscar Grau, Jordi Mestre Masdeu, and Francisco Schroder Quijano. Authorities believe the group is mismanaging and employing inventive accounting to conceal the club’s true financial activities. Further aggravating the club’s problems, this case links with more investigations, including suspected €30 million in secret commissions from Neymar and Antoine Griezmann’s transfers.
Nine of the twelve invoices associated with BFE bore no relationship to actual services, suggesting possible fraudulent billing of around €740,000, according to the Mossos report. According to reports, these created deals finished the €10 million plan around Malcom’s move.
Formal charges have still to be confirmed, but the investigation is becoming more intense. To resolve past inconsistencies and protect the club from possible legal consequences resulting from Bartomeu’s tenure, current president Joan Laporta’s administration has reportedly engaged in “preventive tax regularization.”
