Barcelona official denies spying claim

A Barcelona official denied ordering four board directors to be spied upon but said they were subjected to a “security audit” for their own protection earlier this year.

Barcelona general director Joan Olive i Fontanet responded to a report on Thursday in Catalan newspaper “El Periodico” that alleged that vice presidents Joan Franquesa, Joan Boix, Rafael Yuste and Jaume Ferrer were spied upon by the European champions.

Olive said he contracted a security company at a cost of $82,800 in March “under scrupulous respect for the law.”

He said he had commissioned the audit at Franquesa’s request after Franquesa informed Barcelona he was being watched by someone outside the club. Olive said he then extended it to cover Boix, Yuste and Ferrer.

“We didn’t want to spy on them but protect them,” Olive was quoted as saying by news agency Europa Press.

Franquesa’s allegations took place after the club’s fifth vice president, Alfons Godall, announced he would leave Barcelona once club president Joan Laporta’s term of office ends in 2010.

Olive said Godall’s decision had put the focus on the other four.

“Given that in the past there have been threats against the president, theft of computers and other accidents and because security is very important for the club, it seemed to us that the request was reasonable and it was sensible to extend the audit to the other three vice presidents,” Oliver said.

Olive acknowledged that he had not informed Laporta at the time.

“At this club a thousand decisions are made and information is given at the relevant time. That’s the way we work,” he said.