Barcelona president Joan Laporta insisted Tuesday his club have never “bought referees” amid investigations into payments made to a former refereeing chief over several years.

The Catalan side paid a reported 6.5 million euros ($6.9 million) between 2001 and 2018 to a company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) in Spain, for what they said was advice on refereeing matters.

Spanish prosecutors are investigating the payments and Spanish newspaper El Pais said Tuesday they intend to report Barcelona for “continued sporting corruption”.

“Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never,” said Laporta at an event in Barcelona.

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