Neymar trial date set for financial misconduct and corruption
Brazilian star Neymar will go to trial next October, due to alleged
irregularities in the process of his transfer to the Spanish football club
Barcelona in 2013, according to a judicial source said Wednesday.
Neymar and former Barcelona presidents Sandro Russell and Josep Maria
Bartomeu will try on charges of “corruption” in the deal to sign the current
striker for French club Paris Saint-Germain from his former Brazilian club Santos in 2013.
The trial will take place from 17 to 31 October, according to “AFP”.
The case was opened based on a complaint filed by the Brazilian group “DIS”,
which owned part of the player’s rights, after it considered itself affected by
the move to the Catalan club.
The authorities began the investigation into the case in January 2014 after it
found that there were contradictions in some of the documents requested.
Barcelona initially agreed to pay 57.1 million euros (40 million to the player’s
family and 17.1 to his former club Santos), in exchange for his services,
but according to the calculations of the Spanish judiciary, the value of
the deal amounted to at least 83 million.
And the “DIS” group, which obtained 6 million from the amount paid to
the Brazilian club, considered that Barcelona and Neymar agreed to hide
the true value of this deal.
The Public Prosecution demanded that Neymar imprisoned for two years,
and the player said before the judge that he came to Spain to play football only,
and that he blindly trusted his father, his agent.
Neymar moved in the summer of 2017 from Barcelona to Saint-Germain,
in a deal worth 222 million euros, and made him the most expensive player in the world.
Neymar trial date set for financial misconduct and corruption
