A Brazilian investment firm, DIS, has called for Neymar to be given a five-year prison sentence over alleged fraud in his 2013 Barcelona deal. Neymar will stand trial next week to face charges of fraud and corruption linked to his contract with the Catalans in 2013.
In 2013, Neymar joined La Liga giants Barcelona from his parent club Dos Santos in a highly-publicized football deal.
The emerging football wonder kid topped major football headlines with his skills and his leg work which was second to none.
Neymar justified the attendant media noses on his Barcelona deal with a brilliant debut season with the Catalans.
Apart from the famous transfer, Neymar’s Barcelona move was smeared with allegations of tawdry and shady dark corner deals.
There were allegations of fraud and corruption in the deal. A Brazilian firm, DIS, reportedly entitled to 40% of Neymar’s transfer fee to Barcelona, alleges wrongdoing after they claimed that the transfer fee was undervalued, depriving them of their legitimate earnings.
The PSG forward denied any wrongdoing but had lost the appeal in 2017.
Another hearing of the case is scheduled to begin on Monday, with the 30-year-old said to be set to appear for hearing on Monday.
The hearing will reportedly last for two weeks, but it is still unclear whether he will be implored to stay throughout the hearing in Spain.
Neymar’s parents, the two former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, and former Santos president Odilio Rodriguez are the other defendants in the case.
Meanwhile, the lawyer representing Neymar’s family, Baker McKenzie, have issued a statement to the effect of the allegation claiming that Spanish courts “lack jurisdiction to prosecute Neymar family and their company N&N because Brazilian nationals outside Spanish territory committed the acts.
Another point of contention between Mckenzie and Spanish prosecutors is the case’s legality in the first place. The lawyer pointed out that the alleged crimes are not punishable in Brazil.
DIS reportedly paid €2m to acquire a percentage of Neymar’s rights in 2009, when Neymar was 17.
The Brazilian investment firm had reportedly received a 40% share of the €17.1m that Dos Santos received after the Barcelona deal.
Speaking in a news conference in Spain, DIS lawyer Paulo Nasser asserted that Neymar’s had not been purchased by the highest bidder.
“There were clubs that offered up to 60m euros. “Neymar’s rights have not been sold to the highest bidder,”
DIS’s request is simple; they want Rosell and Bartomeu to be slammed with fines of €149m and a five-year jail term.
Spanish prosecutors want Neymar to be slammed with a fine of €10m and a two-year prison term.
They also want Rosell to be fined €8.4m and a five-year jail term.
Defending the Neymar family, Baker McKenzie added that Neymar family have been charged with “corruption between private individuals” which applies to “competition of products and services between companies” whereas Neymar “is not a service or a commodity”.
Finally, the statement added that the transfer had not broken any Fifa rules
