National Court judge dismisses complaint against Laporta filed by a Barcelona member

Madrid – Judge Santiago Pedraz of the National Court has shelved the criminal complaint brought against former FC Barcelona president and current presidential candidate Joan Laporta, together with several members of the outgoing board, ruling that Spain’s central criminal court lacks jurisdiction over the case.

The complaint, lodged on 26 February by Barça socio Isidro Navarro, accused Laporta and his directors of money laundering and improper payments. In a concise ruling issued this week, Pedraz held that the National Court can only investigate such allegations when every offence is deemed to have been committed abroad, a threshold set by repeated Supreme Court precedent. Because the facts described in Navarro’s filing involve domestic conduct, the judge declared the court incompetent and refused to open proceedings.

The decision does not preclude further action. Navarro retains the right to re-file the same allegations before Barcelona’s ordinary courts, which would determine whether sufficient grounds exist to pursue a criminal investigation.

Speaking after the ruling, Laporta framed the complaint as a political manoeuvre designed to derail his bid to return to the club’s presidency. “It will not work for them to make false accusations, full of lies, to tarnish an exemplary electoral process like ours,” he told reporters. He added that Navarro “does not work alone” and suggested that unnamed parties “600 kilometres away” are seeking to influence the club’s governance.

The case is now closed at the National Court level, but the underlying accusations remain alive should Navarro opt to pursue them in Barcelona’s provincial courts.