Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, his advisor Jaume Masferrer, the club’s CEO Oscar Grau and head of legal services Roman Gomez Ponti are among high-profile individuals arrested by police after raids at the club’s Camp Nou stadium on Monday, reported ESPN.

The local police conducted searches and seize the operation at the stadium but refused to give out the name, according to a report in The Guardian.

Reports in the media suggested that raids are in connection with last year’s “Barca-gate”, an alleged smear campaign launched by the club officials against former and current players who were critical of the club’s management.

Josep Maria Bartomeu was alleged to have paid a third-party company to run a smear campaign on social media and publicly discredit the players including Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, former captain Xavi Hernandez and ex-manager Pep Guardiola.

Bartomeu denied all the allegations at that time. However, he along with his board of directors had to tender their resignation after Lionel Messi’s decision to leave in the summer

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