A Spanish court on Wednesday acquitted former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, who spent nearly two years in pre-trial custody, of money laundering.
Rosell, his wife and four others, were accused of “large-scale money laundering” of close to 20 million euros ($23 million) since 2006, relating to television rights and sponsorship deals in Brazil.
The National Court, which handles major criminal cases, said it had acquitted all six accused because “after evaluating the evidence presented during the trial, the accusations were not proven”.
“As such, given the doubts that were raised, the principle of ‘in dubio pro reo’ must apply,” said the court, using Latin for ‘when in doubt favour the accused’, referring to the presumption of innocence. Read more