Introducing Benedito (5) : The presentation video

Last month, Catalan businessman Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will this week give an introduction on the pre-candidate.


Above, you find a subtitled version of the video Benedito made public when he announced he would run for president. If you prefer to read the text, it goes as follows:


"I'm 45 years old, I have four children. Lately, some media reports have speculated about the possibility that I could head a candidacy for the presidency of FC Barcelona. This is to confirm that this is true.

For a while now, a group of club members is working with a lot of energy, excitement, motivation and conviction to be able to present the fans another alternative in the upcoming elections that will be held next year and to shape a candidacy for the presidency of Barça.

Not everybody knows me or my link with Barça. I can tell you that already in 1997 I was part of the candidacy of Angel Fernández who faced president Núñez. Then later I actively took part, together with others, in “L'Elefant Blau” that presented a vote of no confidence against president Núñez.

I also took part in the elections of 2000, when Joan Gaspart faced Lluís Bassat, and ultimately in the elections that were won by Joan Laporta on 15 June 2003. Since then I have been helping the club by conducting executive tasks, as member or director of the Sports Commission of the club and of the Social Commission, especially taking care of everything related to the professional sections of Barça.

I don't know if Joan Laporta is the best president in the history of Barça, but he sure is the president of the best Barça in history and so he did some great things, but he also did some things that were not so good. We will take the good part with us and we'll strenghten it, and what he - or they - didn't achieve, there we will continue, go on until the end.

This is an initiative that doesn't have any sense if it's not the result of the most possible people of FC Barcelona. It's important, it's crucial, it's really needed that all those who didn't do anything, but who would want, that you participate in this, that you take part. I repeat that by listening to you, we will definitely shape our final project.

I want to insist: it's crucial, it's very important, that we want that people who have concerns and who want to participate, that they do so. You would help us a lot. I might be insisting a lot but I would be very pleased to be able to count on all of you, all of those who want to participate."

this is the last part of a five-parts series. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous parts of this series:
Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate
Introducing Benedito (2): The man, the culé
Introducing Benedito (3) : The affair too much
Introducing Benedito (4) : The affair too much (2)

Introducing Benedito (4) : The affair too much (2)

Earlier this month, Catalan businessman Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will this week give an introduction on the pre-candidate.


Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday 18 February 2009, Barcelona president Joan Laporta talked about his involvement in an attempt to sell Spanish footbal club Mallorca, which was revealed one day earlier by Spanish newspaper El Mundo:

"It's a professional matter. The company Binipuntiró, the main shareholder of Real Mallorca, has financial problems and they contacted my office to help them with the sale. We looked around and found a client who was interested and who made an offer on the condition of an audit of the entity.

It became clear that what the seller asked for the shares was a price that, according to our client, wasn't correct, so the deal didn't go through. Since this was a professional assignment, it's normal that my office receives a fee for the legal services that were provided.

Our law firm always examines if the cases we are offered don't interfere with my function as president of FC Barcelona but in this case it was decided that there was no incompatibility at all, so the conduct of my office was lawful, legal and professional.

The way the report was published suggests that my firm has tried to hide its involvement but there are legal and public documents about this since the seller had insolvency problems. We haven't tried to hide anything. But some state media are particularly fond of me.

I just try to do my job and I don't care about others trying to prevent me from doing that. I want to make a living out of my job, in an honest and responsible way, which is what I did in this case."

Two weeks later, Laporta repeated his defense in an interview with Spanish business paper Expansión: "Being the president of Barça, gives you a lot of possibilities to mix with people but not to do business.

But where's the line? In my case, I have a law firm and I assist companies, like Mallorca, that had financial problems and asked me to look for a buyer. I found one in Uzbekistan but the operation didn't go through."


Despite the explanations of Laporta, the involvement of Laporta was the reason that led Agustí Benedito to resign as member of the club's social commission on Thursday 26 February.

In a letter to the president, quoted by former Barcelona's head of communication Jordi Badia on his blog, Benedito explained the reasons for his decision: "This news has been the biggest disappointment in my life. Over the years, I have maintained my beliefs and they now prevent me from continuing with you. Despite the fact that this wasn't easy, I have been loyal until the end."

Speaking to Spanish news agency EFE, Benedito said: "What has happened is against the spirit with which 'El Elefant Blau' was founded (read more here). I belonged to the core of this movement that fought for a different Barça.

I've always stood by the side of Joan Laporta, even at the time of the vote of no confidence last summer, and I've defended him with everything I had. But now I feel that this attempt of trying to obtain a fee for the sale of Mallorca has nothing to do with the Laporta from a few years ago."

EFE claimed that Benedito had been close to be appointed as director of the club around the time of his exit but that the appointment didn't went through in the end. Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo had already reported in September 2008 that Benedito was rumoured to be a candidate to join the board soon.

Club sources were quoted by EFE as saying that they thought this had been the main reason for his decision, something that Benedito denied to the agency and in an interview with Catalan newspaper Avuí one week later:

"Everybody who knows me, knows that this is ridiculous. This just indicates they have no arguments to defend what cannot be defended. I've voluntarily worked for the club for many years.

I know that I have been rumoured to become a director, several board members told me they wanted me to join, but the president never spoke about it with me. And I thank him for not having made me a director because this would otherwise have been an even more difficult situation for me.

I have resigned because I think that the president of Barça has mislead the club members when he said last summer that he and no one from his board did business in the world of football.

And by doing that he didn't only betray a leading principle of the 'Elefant Blau' but also of our way of acting for many years. In my view, it's not ethical for a president to enrich himself in such a way. It's clear he betrayed those principles and that he lied. That's why I resign."

this is the fourth part of a five-parts series. the next part will be the video in which benedito presents himself as presidential candidate. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous parts of this series:
Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate
Introducing Benedito (2): The man, the culé
Introducing Benedito (3) : The affair too much


picture: germán rodríguez rosas

Introducing Benedito (3) : The affair too much

Earlier this month, Catalan businessman Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will this week give an introduction on the pre-candidate.


On Tuesday 17 February of this year, the regional Balearic Islands edition of Spanish newspaper El Mundo claimed that Laporta & Arbós, the law firm co-owned by Barcelona president Joan Laporta, had been involved in an attempt to sell Spanish first division club Mallorca in 2008.

In July of 2008, Laporta's law firm would have proposed to Binipuntiró, a company of then Mallorca president Vicenç Grande that owned the club, to sell their shares (that represented more than 90%) to Zeromax, a company registered in Switzerland but primarily active in Uzbekistan, where it conducts business in oil and gas, agriculture, textiles, construction, mining and logistics.

The deal would provisionally have been valued at 60 million euros pending a full examination of the financial situation of the club. On 30 July, Laporta & Arbós was given the official authorization by Binipuntiró to start the negotiations with Zeromax. The mandate said that the law firm would receive 7 per cent of the fee paid by the buyers.

When Binipuntiró informed the trustees in insolvency about the ongoing negotiations, these latter nevertheless told them that an exclusive option had previously been agreed upon between Grande and English business man Paul Davidson for a fee of 36 million euros. The negotiations with Zeromax were therefore cancelled and the deal didn't went through.

this is the third part of a five-parts series. the next part will cover benedito leaving the club as a consecuence of the above explained case. you can read the whole series here.


Read the previous parts of this series:
Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate
Introducing Benedito (2): The man, the culé


picture:
Former Mallorca president Vicenç Grande (left) and Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Introducing Benedito (2): The man, the culé

Earlier this month, Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will this week give an introduction on the pre-candidate.


The man
Agustí Benedito i Benet is a 45 years old Catalan business man and father of four children.

After his law studies at Barcelona University and further specialization courses at the General Motors Institute in Michigan (United States) and the ESADE Business School in Barcelona, he joined his family's company that was involved in the car industry. After the sale of the company in 2002, Benedito became a consultant for family companies.

The culé
In 1997, Benedito was – together with current Barcelona president Joan Laporta - a member of the candidacy of Àngel Fernández, who lost the elections in July against sitting president Josep Lluís Núñez.

Later that year, Benedito was a founding member of the opposition group Elefant Blau (Blue Elephant), that forced a vote of no confidence again Barcelona president Núñez. The vote was held in March 1998 but didn't succeed.

In the 2000 elections, Elefant Blau, of which Laporta was one of the leaders, supported the candidacy of Lluís Bassat, who was defeated by then Barcelona vice-president Joan Gaspart (read more here).

After Elefant Blau disappeared, Benedito helped Joan Laporta to set up his 2003 bid for the presidency. Since Laporta was chosen president in 2003, Benedito has been a member of the club's sporting and social commissions.

Earlier this year, Benedito resigned from his post because of his disagreement with some of the actions of Laporta, especially the president's involvement in a possible sale of Spanish football club Mallorca to Uzbek investors (read more in the third part of this series).

this is the second part of a four-parts series. the next part will cover the reasons for benedito leaving the club earlier this year. you can read the whole series here.


Read the first part of this series:
Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate


picture: germán rodríguez rosas
sources: agustibenedito.cat, wikipedia and own research

Introducing Benedito (1): The candidate

Earlier this month, Catalan business man Agustí Benedito announced his intention to take part in next year's elections for president of FC Barcelona. This blog will give an introduction on the pre-candidate in the coming week.


Benedito, who had resigned from his post at the club in March of this year (read more in the third part of this series), would already have been preparing his candidacy for months and since the summer, there had been speculation about his plans.

During the second half of the month of September, several media claimed that Benedito had made the decision to be a candidate. On 25 September, Catalan weekly paper El Triangle reported that an announcement would follow soon.

On Thursday 8 October, Benedito then came with the official confirmation that he would run for president. Although he said the announcement was made to avoid further speculation, it seems clear that Benedito was trying to gain some momentum in the preparation of his candidacy.

Catalan sports paper El 9 Esportiu claims that Benedito, who wouldn't have plans to link up with another candidate, is also already keeping an eye on the following presidential elections, that will in theory be held in 2016.

His ideas
So far, Benedito has only given a short preview of his plans, while declaring he will present his full project when the election process wil officially be launched.

Everyone seems nevertheless to agree that the core of his campaign will be the recovery of the values of the "Elefant Blau" (Blue Elephant), the opposition group of which Benedito was one of the founders in the late 1990s, alongside -among others- current Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Benedito demonstrated this by already revealing the key words of his campaign in his letter to Spanish news agency EFE: "Transparency, participation of the club members, good governance and honesty".

He added that his team would lead the club "from a full but non-political catalanism, always looking for the support and the involvement of the many Barcelona fans in and outside Catalonia."

His people
Benedito, who is still looking for support, defined the people he's working with as follows: "I will finalize my project together with a diligent, pluralistic and open-minded team - people with proven management skills in business, sports and social areas - because I understand the social importance of Barça and because I know the values that an entity like this needs to be able to transmit: effort, will to improve and responsibility."

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claimed already last month that Benedito is supported by a group of around 400 people and that he is planning to contact the Catalan political parties shortly to present them his project. Catalan sports paper Sport reports that Benedito has been surrounding himself with a group of ambitious young businessmen.

Barcelona opposition site Pelikano claims that Benedito contacted this summer former "Elefant Blau" members like Aymerich, Carrasco, Canal, Geli, Sola, Salinas, Castellet, Latorre or Bonet, to ask them if they were interested in joining him in this new project.

this is the first part of a four-parts series. the next part will cover benedito's personal, professional and blaugrana background. you can read the whole series here.


Read more:
Agusti Benedito to run for president
Who will be the next president of FC Barcelona?



picture: germán rodríguez rosas