FC Barcelona statement on liability action

FC Barcelona has received notification about the resolution of Provincial Court of Barcelona regarding the claim of liability action, according to which it dismisses both the appeal filed by the Club and the appeal filed by the former defendants.

After an initial assessment, FC Barcelona would like to affirm the following:

1. The Club regrets that the the Court has not issued a resolution which sets the accounting principles to determine in the future the quantification of profits or losses of a board of directors in its mandate.

2. The intention of the current Board of Directors was not to claim any economic responsibility to the former directors, but to obtain a precedent in relation to this criteria, in order to avoid the current situation of doubt and legal uncertainty. The Court argues that, having abandoned the request for economic condemnation, it is not necessary to enter into the question raised by the Club.

3. In any case, the Court’s decision confirms, once again, that the accounts presented by the outgoing Board of Directors closing the 2009/10 financial year were defective and that the reformulation carried out by the incoming Board of Directors and approved by the Auditors, which resulted in losses of more than 79 million euros, is correct.

4. The ruling dismissed the appeal of the former directors, who requested a modification of the arguments of the initial resolution, as the accounting criteria applied in the formulation of the accounts for the 2009/10 season were not correct and, therefore, they exposed their responsibility.

5. The ruling also dismisses the request made by the former directors regarding the imposition of court costs, considering that the action brought by FC Barcelona had solid legal and accounting bases and that, in these circumstances, it is not appropriate to impose the costs on the Club.

6. The ruling also confirms that the only reason why the complaint lodged by FC Barcelona was not successful in the first instance is because, in the opinion of the judge, that the Club does not share, some of the items that made up the total losses claimed and paid by the Club were not sufficiently credited.

7. FC Barcelona considers that during this process it has fought to defend the interests of the Club, in compliance with the law and the mandate of the Assembly of Delegate Members.

The resolution of the Provincial Court of Barcelona will be evaluated at the next regular meeting of the Board of Directors, scheduled for next Monday, May 29.