Laporta's recent appearance focuses on his alleged responsibility for payments made by the club to the former Vice President of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, for the supposed preparation of reports. This paid relationship is under judicial investigation for potential corruption offenses.
Laporta's use of Catalan is seen as a strategy to divert attention from corruption accusations and ensure that the most nationalist sector of Catalan society sides with him.
Reports indicate that Laporta was initially asked to switch to Spanish to facilitate the proceedings, but he was ultimately allowed to continue speaking in Catalan. This linguistic choice has been widely praised by media and sectors aligned with “lazismo” (radical separatism), who consider him a “hero of the language.”
Critics argue that defending the language in this judicial context is nothing more than a “distraction maneuver” aimed at appealing to the most entrenched nationalist sector, attempting to transform a matter of alleged corruption into an attack by the Spanish State against the independence movement.
