COMUNICAT (ENGLISH VERSION)

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 GO BARÇA STOPS THE VOTE OF NO TRUST

Regarding our decision of withdrawing the vote of no trust against FC Barcelona directive board, which was announced on September 30^th, said decision announced on October 2^nd in a press conference at the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya, we would like to make the following statement:

  

1.  The reasons that motivated us to present the vote of no trust still exist.

2.   Experts on law matters, whose opinion was consulted by GO Barça, mentioned the following regarding the bylaw 58/2010 by the Generalitat de Catalunya:

·     FC Barcelona had 3 years to actualize the club’s statutes, so they can reflect the need of a 15% of signatures to present a vote of no trust, yet they haven’t submitted the modification until the time we presented the vote.

·       Therefore, the club’s statutes expired in June 2013.

·       The club could choose to apply the statutes that were valid when we submitted the vote, as long as there was no member that demanded the opposite.

3.  GO Barça submitted the vote of no trust according to the club’s statutes, since we understood this would be the last chance of doing such before the statutes were modified in the upcoming Member’s General Assembly, so they reflected the 58/2010 by-law. According to this, any vote of no trust in the future would need the signature of 15% of valid members to be presented, not the 5% that was stated in previous statutes. 

4.     Once we started the submitting process, several facts occurred:

·        The Secretary of Catalan Sport, Mr. Tibau, says at  tv3 that Barça had the choice of making valid the demand for 5% of signatures

·        The President of the Catalan Sports Court, Sr. Xiol, says at RAC1 that Barça could apply the 5% rule

·        GO Barça decides not to start asking petitions to be signed and pursuing the 5%, as we won’t want to enter in a court case with FC Barcelona.

·        In any case, we regret that the 58/2010 by-law establish such a limit for member’s rights of demanding accountability to the club’s board and, in particular, make highly impossible to present a vote of no trust.

5.  When we got the petitions printed from the club and the realized the club would demand for the 15% of signatures, we thought trough our options, which were two:

·        To pursue the 5% of signatures and then take the club into court.

·        To withdraw the vote of no trust, acknowledging we won’t get to the 15% of members to sign, since we have no financial support or media presence.

6.   Since we didn’t want to enter into a court case with the club, and the 15% goal was impossible to achieve in only 14 days, we made a responsible decision of withdrawing the vote of no trust.

7.   We would like to apologize for our mistakes in this process. The promoters of this vote of no trust are not interested nor seeking ‘free publicity’, as they have also not intended to diminish the importance of the limited means FC Barcelona members have to participate in club’s matters.

8.     We sincerely thank all of you who have send us messages and emails supporting our cause, which arrived from different parts of the world. We strongly encourage the members that agree with the reasons we exposed to present the vote of no trust, to join us in the quest of a more representative club. We kindly ask for your support for the actions we will held in the future.

Visca el Barça i Visca Catalunya

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MOCIÓ DE CENSURA (ENGLISH VERSION)

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GO BARÇA SUBMITTED A VOTE OF NO TRUST AGAINST SANDRO ROSELL AND THREE VICE- PRESIDENTS

On Monday 30 September, two members of GO Barça platform, assisted to FC Barcelona central offices to present intentions of submitting the request for a vote of no confidence against President Sandro Rosell i Feliu, Vice President of Sports Josep M. Bartomeu i Floreta, the Vice President of Financials Javier Faus i Santasusana and Vice President of Social Affairs, Jordi Cardoner i Casaus. This procedure is regulated by Article 51, in the club’s current statutes.

There are many reasons that we argue to filling the Vote of No Trust, as it is exposed in the next paragraphs, but there are two reasons that are consistent and common  over the time this board has been in charge of the club. Those reasons can be summed up in their constant attitude of LYING and DECEIVING FC Barcelona members over repeated occasions.

TIMELINE

Here we present a timeline of events that have inspired Go Barça to submit the Vote of No Trust, regarding the action of FC Barcelona directive board over different matters:

   

1.       On August 26th 2013, after three years of continuous news that affected both honesty and ethic stature of FC Barcelona president, which were never denied by him, two members of GO Barça sent a letter to FC Barcelona President, asking for explanations about these reports.

2.       On September 5^th 2013, FC Barcelona President answered our letter, saying to us that he would reply our demands in a radio show, “The Midnight Club (“El Club de la Mitjanit”) at Radio Catalunya, conducted by Pere Escobar.

* NOTE: We regret that the president did not held a press conference to give appropriate explanations to all members and supporters of FC Barcelona, and not only listeners of a midnight radio show in Catalunya. We thingit would have been appropriate to hold a press conference accepting all kinds of questions, instead of an interview recorded before its release.

3.       During the interview President Rosell repeatedly said that he would never talk about these issues again, therefore affecting the image of the club and the honor of his person. Analyzing the interview, it can be stated that:

       

3.1  President Rosell did not deny the information regarding court cases in Brazil against him: In linght of allegations, held in court according to Brazilian press, that he received illegal commissions for management of games, he minimized those allegations, using the euphemism "fees" instead of "commissions". Later on, it has been proved that these “fees” are “commissions” indeed, since the agreement was leaked to the press.

3.2  President Rosell repeatedly lied to the audience:

     

3.2.1     Rosell claimed that he had no court cases open in any country in the world. However, the company called Ailanto Marketing, in which Rosell has a 99% of ownership, has an open court case for fraud, which could condemn him up to eight years in prison, according to Brazilian press . All documentation regarding Ailanto case can be read here.

3.2.2     He said that he couldn’t sell his company called BSM because of the ‘Egyptian Spring’. But these revolts occurred in 2011 and BSM Rosell was sold  to a company called DAG on 23 July 2010, according to statements by the president himself. Here is  the video.

3.2.3     He openly defender his friend Ricardo Terra Teixeira, for president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), which resigned and moved to Miami when a cause of corruption was demonstrated against him, the their corruption by the ISL case. Teixeira accepted millions in bribes from a marketing company, part of which were deviated to accounts in Andorra, through foundations and bank accounts to the name of his childrens.

* NOTE: During the interview, there was no mention of the Folha de S.Paulo news, by journalist Juca Kfour and published on February 17^th 2012. In that article, it was informed that Sandro Rosell made a 3,8million BRL (US$ 1,75 million) transfer to eight year old daughter of Ricardo Teixeira, in June 2011. This movement happened after Sandro Rosell was elected and assumed FC Barcelona’s presidency, therefore, it’s accountable for ethics considerations that are allocated in the FC Barcelona’s Code of Ethics. The members association Consulta Barça asked a revision of this case according to the Code in June 2012 (presentation can be read here), which has had no response from the club to this date., ​​is located in the filed in June 2012 by a collective consultation club, which has not been taken yet no response.

4.     The next Member’s General Assembly will be held on October 5^th 2013. We expect the new estatutes to be approved in that meeting.  This statutes will secure the position of any directive board and will act as a shield, protecting them from members that do not agree with the way they manage the club. That will be possible since the new statutes will explain that a Vote of No Trust should be supported by the signature of 15% of total members instead of current 5% reform. This fact implies that, if a Vote of No Trust is not submitted with the current laws in force, it will be almost impossible to do so within the regulation held in the new statutes.

VOTE OF NO TRUST

Once presented the timeline of events that led to GO Barça to begin a process of submitting a Vote of No Trust, below we expose the several reasons we understand constitute enough backup for this procedure. These are the arguments that demonstrate the lies and deceptions that the current Board of Directors have been inflicting over the past three years:

1. Constant deceptions regarding the matter of Qatar’s associated institutions financing FC Barcelona through advertising. Members were deceived by saying the UNIFEC would be replaced by another non profit organization (Qatar Foundation), but then just one year after, Qatar Foundation was replaced by Qatar’s airline, Qatar Airways, notably a company for profit. In those matters:

1.1 We condemn the lack of transparency the club has notably shown in a very important issue: the advertising agreement signed with Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), and which was approved in the Delegate’s Assembly in 2011. Javier Faus, vicepresident of Economics, never explained properly the assets that were involved in the price agreed (i.e., members never had the chance of knowing what was put on sale), assets that have been disclosed with time. The indiscriminate use of those assets show that the Qatar brand is all over our club. Despite many delegates voted in favour of the agreement, they did so because they understood the agreement only involved the shirt, as it was explained that way. But Faus, over a year later in 2012, explained that the agreement was far more general than members knew in that Assembly.

1.2 We condemn a serious conflict of interest that involves Sandro Rosel: During contract negotiations with QSI, the main client of Rosell’s company, Bonus Sports Marketing (BSM) , was school football Aspire Academy, a sort of Masía that is preparing Qatar’s World Cup in  2022.

1.3 We condemn the conflict of interest that involves vice president Javier Faus: he was directing negotiations with QSI and, at the same time, director of Inmobiliaria Colonial, owned by U.S. investment fund Colony Capital . Coincidentally, Colony Capital owned Paris Saint Germain, club that was sold  prince Al Thani of Qatar during that time.

1.4  We report that designation of Qatar as home of 2022 World Cup is under investigation by possible fraud: President Rosell was named, along with nine other major sports administrators, in an investigation published by prestigious weekly magazine France Football. The article  "Qatargate" mentiones Rosell as one of the people that is involved in the fraudulent designation of Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022, with the consequent discrediting the good name and reputation of the club.

1.5  We strongly condemn the false arguments used by Sandro  Rosell to justify the advertising agreement with QSI:

1.5.1. Supposedly, the QSI agreement would help to maintain and finance other sports at the club that are not quite profitable. But only a few months later the agreement was approved, the club said there would be major budget cuts for other sports and baseball would be eliminated as sport supported by FC Barcelona. This fact provoked that former candidates from the last election, Ferrer, Benedito and Marc Ingla, forgot their differences for a while and signed an open letter to Barça’s President of the club defending these sports. Again, the current Board lied.

1.5.2. QSI agreement would also avoid raising member’s season tickets. This time he did not lie, but deceived members, since Spanish Super Cup, which had always been included in season tickets, got eliminated. Therefore, season ticket holders had to buy tickets for that game and also paying for the season ticket. This is an indirect way of raising fees for season tickets.

2.     Lies and deception the board concurred for creation and development of the ‘Grada Jove’ (seats  designated to young members, who are really members of firms, and access to tickets with discount), which has caused severe problems in stadiums across Europe and has returned old privileges to members of self-proclamed firms, groups of fans that have violence as their trademark. These privileges have not only been reinstalled by the current board, but it also has included allowing firms to insult the rest of members and attendants to the Camp Nou in several occasions.

      2.1 During the election campaign, president Sandro Rosell denied twice reports saying he had an agreement with several firms, including the violent group called Boixos Boys. A few months ago, and due to the excellent work of journalists Jordi Borda and Xavier Campos, Radio Catalunya exposed the truth, showing a document signed by one of the Boixos Boys representatives, among other groups, as well as Sandro Rosell.

   2.2 Journalist Sique Rodriguez broke the news that FC Barcelona was trying to get this group of supporters organized, ignoring the fact that Mossos D’Esquadra, Catalan police, did not advise this as it was too dangerous. These reports were repeatedly denied by vicepresident Jordi Cardoner, blatantly lying for two days until finally admitting that the club had been selling tickets to those groups well below the official price (10 euros instead of 60-70 or even 100 for those seats). After acknowledging being lying in an interview with the same reporter who uncovered the case, Cardoner dared to say this was not so serious and that he wasn’t thinking of handing his resignation.

   2.3  Few days after the scandal of the under covered Grada Jove, those groups that had been enjoying benefits held some sort of ‘strike’ at the stadium, and hung the banner “the Camp Nou is a grave yard” with the consent of the club, that did not sent anyone to take it away. The same day, a few meters down, other people hung two banners criticizing the president Rosell and vicepresident Cardoner. These banners, which were not offensive nor covered any sacred advertisement, were removed by security members of FC Barcelona, ​​saying that "it’s an order of Sandro Rosell" . GO Barça thinks that the lack of democratic culture and freedom of expression is remarkably wrong, especially coming from a directive board that had "We are all Barca" as its slogan campaign.

3.     Constant breaches of FC Barcelona’s code of ethics. We then present parts of a  document that denounces several infringements of FC Barcelona’s code of ethics by the directive board. This document was presented by member’s association Consulta Barça, which has not received any reply from the club until this date:

         3.1 In an interview with newspaper Expansion(jan 20^th 2010), president Rosell admitted that he owns rights over 5% of tickets reselling company Viagogo. There is no evidence that estates that he has ever denied this information. Viagogo is a multinational company engaged in the "secondary market" for sports and concert tickets, acting as an intermediary for reselling tickets between fans/assistants. Viagogo has been reported in several countries, to intervene in the sale of `fraudulent tickets”. A TV show in Britan, called “Dispatches” in Channel 4, denounces Viagogo’s business in this report video. On the Viagogo website you can find tickets for club matches, at the Camp Nou and even finals, at prices that sometimes are twenty times higher its face value.

       3.2 Vicepresident Jordi Cardoner promised, during the election campaign, that the club would create a travel agency for members and fans to travel and get tickets for away games. Here is the video . On March 3^rd 2011, the club signed an agreement with company Halcón Viajes for it to became FC Barcelona’s official travel agency. Over that time we also knew that Halcón Viajes actively participated in the election campaign,  allowing the use of its establishments for the collection of signatures for Rosell’s candidacy.

         3.3  FC Barcelona spokesman Toni Freixa Martin is a partner in the SFFR law firm that, from early 2012, has been advisors to Girona Football Club. Girona plays in Spain’s Liga Adelante, in which also participates Barça B team. This constitutes a clear conflict of interest, according to Article 4.1 of the code of ethics.

      3.4 Inaki Urdangarin is still a member of the Foundation FC Barcelona of FC Barcelona as a vocal, while being under insvetigation for allegeded fraud (Noos Case) in 2011. Despite not having been convicted, he has been removed from Spain’s Royal Family website, his name has been eliminated out of a major street in Palma de Mallorca and several reports suggest that Spain’s Royal Family has removed all support towards him in this case. This whole situation is seriously damaging FC Barcelona’s reputation. GO Barça regrets that FC Barcelona has not taken this into account and has separated Undargarin from the Foundation, which clearly constitutes a breach of Article 12.4 of the Code of Ethics.

4.     Lack of transparency in the case of the sale of company Bonus Sports Marketing (BSM), which has been reported as a company participating in plots of Brazil and Qatar. This was a transaction full of contradictions, as explained by Albert Llimós article in Ara newspaper:

4.1 According to the newspaper Ara, "On December 13^th 2010, Sandro Rosell, recently appointed FC Barcelona’s President, claimed that BSM had been sold, during 2010 summer, to DAG, the Dallah Albaraka Group and the holding that payed for organizational fees in Brazil national team’s friendly games in 2006. Later it was confirmed that the sale did not occur. Finally, in 2011 it was known that the company was to be sold to SAL Offshore Sports Investment , owned by Shahe Ohannessian. It is a Lebanese company on which there is no information of any kind, nor are references to its owner, not even in Lebanon. "It is worth adding that offshore companies have the characteristic of being registered in countries considered "tax heavens". In those offshore jurisdictions, personal information of shareholders and owners of said companies are not listed on any public record, maintaining the strict confidentiality. Below you can watch three videos on the sale of BSM: link1, link 2 and link 3.

4.2 After BSM was sold to an offshore company, it was surprising to discover that Marta Pineda, Sandro Rosell’s wife, remained as BSM representative up until February 2013, three years after Sandro Rosell being appointed as FC Barcelona President.

5.  Negligent attitude to defend FC Barcelona’s interests and good name, especially against vicious attacks from Madrid, some of them directly infringed by Real Madrid representatives:

5.1  After a serious of consecutive games against Real Madrid in 2011, it was clear that the big rivals exceeded beyond the limits of sportsmanship. They even complained to UEFA about attitudes of fair play against Barca players. President Sandro Rosell threatened to break institutional relations with Real Madrid. But barely two months later, the former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho attacked Barça’s head coach, Tito Vilanova, in the eye. Barca did not take any action against Real Madrid nor break institutional relations, despite the mockery of the fans of Real Madrid with the banner "Mou, your finger show us the way " at the Santiago Bernabéu, which was allowed by Madrid officials. A few months ago, Sandro Rosell said those ‘games’ against Real Madrid were ‘fun’ and disrectpectful behaviour towards Barça players and staff members were regarded as ‘part of the game’.   

5.2 Press and radio company COPE blatantly accused FC Barcelona players of taking prohibited substances to enhance their performance. Sources from COPE alleged that that information was suggested to be spread by Florentino Perez. Quite rightly, FC Barcelona sued COPE, asking for € 6,190,090 for damages. Incomprehensibly, only a few months later, when it seemed that COPE would lose the trial, the club  came to an agreement for an amount of € 200,000. An agreement that does not reach 3.3% of the initial request.

6.     Failure to comply with given word by Josep Maria Bartomeu, in a case as sensitive as Eric Abidal’s renewal after a long and difficult disease. On December 2012, Bartomeu said that "the contract renewal of Abidal is written and we will sign it whenever he plays his comeback game"

* NOTE: As of today, Eric Abidal is playing regularly with Monaco, being their captain and being recalled again for playing for France.

7.     The lack of transparency in the amount of Neymar signing

7.1 There is still not a clear indication on the amount payed for the signing of Brazilian international Neymar. According to FC Barcelona, the fee raises up to 57 million euros, but Santos alleged they had been payed only 17.1 million. There is no clear explanation on the 40 million euros that make a difference from  both versions. It is important to say, to the alleged 57 million, it must be added the value of two friendly matches, and 2 million more, as is mentioned in the link above from from Diario La Vanguardia.

7.2 It is also known today that Barça has also acquired preferential rights of three young players from Santos for a total of 7.9 million euros. Attempting to separate the price of Neymar and the payment for “preferential rights” to three players from Santos is another way of deceiving. It is quite clear that, if neymar signing hasn’t been completed, the club wouldn’t have spent the extra 7.9 million.

7.3 Brazilian agen Andre Cury was added to FC Barcelona staff over this signing, which might be a way of paying commissions for this signing, in a very indirect way. According to Mundo Deportivo, Andre Cury was Neymar’s trusted agent.

* NOTE: In FC Barcelona’s 2012 financial statements, there were some expenses labelled as "payment for intangible sports assets " of 10 million euros. The question is obvious: those 10 million should be added to the total 57 million the signing or they are already included?

8.    Thiago Alcantara’s buyout clause: When former Barça player Thiago Alcantara signed a contract renewal in June 2011, the club announced a buyout clause for 90 million euros. Surprisingly, two years after, it is discovered that in fact the clause was 18 million .. Radio journalist Catalonia Xavier Campos alert about this 'inconsistency' in this video.

9. Unfair restrictions for fans living outside Catalunya: The new requirements to become a FC Barcelona member (not season ticket holder, just a member), which involve kinship (blood relations) and being a commitment card holder for several years, are conditions that exclude members that live outside Catalunya and find difficult to travel to do all the paperwork in person (as the club demands now). Those conditions constitute discriminatory treatment towards the members living outside Catalunya and also are improper to values that are ​​inherent at the clubm such as Universalism. These are the exact words of a GO Barça members and also a Barça member from across the Atlantic:

 "The union of all culés is been strongly diminished by discriminatory treatment of members and fans outside Catalunya, and particularly for those who are not season ticket holders. Culés from other countries are treated like customers rather than fans, as club happily admittes purchases from them but they are not allowed to belong to the club unless they surpass countless obstacles.   The club shows no interest of knowing about these peolple, which are counted by millions, on what are their motivations and reasons to become members. They don’t want a season ticket, as they cannot assist regurarly to the stadium, so they won’t apply for that. They just want to belong, without asking anything in return. There is no chance for a culé living far from Catalunya of becoming a member today. And that creates fans of first and second rate, creating a clear division in people that love the club and want to belong to it"

10. Improper actions held by club officials over the past three years:

10.1  The Extremadura episode: Sandro Rosell concurred to ask forgiveness to Extremadura president for something that did not need forgiveness, slavishly humiliating himself in front of someone who had insulted Catalunya and it people.

10.2      Homages being organized to the fogure of president Josep Lluis Núñez, who has been convicted to six years in prison, and to pay millions in compensation for fraud in the Hacienda Case.

10.3     During the Assembly of Delegates held on Octuber 16^th 2010, it was promoted a vote to sue former directive board (lead by former president Joan Laporta) over financial losses. KPMG official, Fernando Ferrer Garcia, who presented arguments undertaken to vote, admitted in court on October 24^th 2011, that the slides he used to explain main issues of the financial estatements, and which were used to vote, were provided by the current board of directors and not supervised nor prepared by KMPG.

11. The process of reform of the club’s statutes, from the first day, has been a cluster of deception, half truths and blatant lies. In the article the statutes of tricksters this matter is explained in detail.

CONCLUSIONS

1) The disturbing future: From GO Barça we would like to raise concerns of the inminent shielding procedures the president Sandro Rosell is building in order to approve huge projects, such as the Pharaonic project to build a new stadium. A project like that would seriously compromise the club’s future, and could lead to taking irreversible decisions, such as selling irreplaceable players like Leo Messi or even more, selling the whole club to an investor. We honestly fear that a project like that could end the club as we know it, with members, and turn it into a PSG, owned by its same owners. 

At Go Barça we are totally convinced that decisions like those should be taken by all members, not only the board of directors.

2) The disunity of the club: We are convinced that the continued disregard of the transcendental figures in the history the club, that led to the highest social and sporting level we have ever known, is a serious and blatant attack to the union of all culés. In particular, abuse towards our former coach Pep Guardiola, which comes from inside the club and is materialized week after week in Barcelona’s main sports media. The union of the Club, a rare thing that, coincidentally, was achieved under his command and because of his leadership, is currently seriously affected by these events. More so, it is not understandable that FC Barcelona does not have institutional relations with two of its most influential coaches such as Johan Cruyff and Frank Rijkaard. These practices concur a worrying attempt of erasing our recent history of success, simply because the people who wrote it do not share the same vision current directive board has.

3) Loss of confidence: After all that we've shown we can say that we have lost our confidence towards Sandro Rosell as FC Barcelona president, as facts are clear to point him out as the president who has done more for promoting the disunity of the club, which clearly benefits him and his directive board. We encourage all those members and supporters who are tired of their practices, to join the GO Barça family. We encourage them to give us their support, help us and cooperate with us to give FC Barcelona back to its members and fans, to be a more democratic club, to assure participation and promote transparency.

As master Puyal said:

"Citizens have power, citizens have strength, and if we know how to use those gifts, we can change the future. That is what democracy should be: we believe that it depends on us".