Neymar ordered to appear in court over Barcelona transfer

Neymar has been ordered to appear at a Spanish court for fraud, according to Agencie France Presse.

During Neymar’s transfer a company called DIS owned a percentage of his registration and they have also taken legal action claiming that they did not receive the amount of money that they were promised earlier.

Bartomeu has been called on February 1, whilst Barcelona and Santos will also have to give evidence via representatives on February 9 and February 1 respectively.

Proceedings centre on claims from Brazilian investment fund DIS that they should have received a higher portion of the original fee than they did.

Santos officially received a payment of 17.1 million euros ($18.5 million) for Neymar’s transfer, but investigations in Spain later showed that Barcelona spent almost 83.3 million euros ($90 million) to acquire the Brazilian.

Bartomeu was a vice president under Rosell when Neymar was signed in a complex deal involving multiple contracts.

Former president Rosell was forced to resign in January 2014 after a separate legal case was launched by a club member over the actual value of the Neymar transfer.

Neymar has previously said he is “sick and tired” of allegations against him and his family, and continues to refute the case against him.

In doing so, Barcelona stand accused of defrauding the Spanish taxman of 12.7 million euros. No date for a trial has been set so far.

The 23-year-old Neymar has also encountered problems with Brazil’s tax office, which last year froze assets related to the player valued at about 189 million Brazilian reals ($47 million) because of allegations of tax evasion.

Neymar is now in talks with the club over a new deal, but Neymar Sr. says he needs “judicial security” before committing to a new deal.

Neymar isn’t the only Barca star in trouble with the Spanish authorities as recently crowned Ballon d’Or victor Lionel Messi faces trial on tax fraud charges along with his father for allegedly failing to declare 4.16 million euros ($4.69 million) in taxes related to his image rights between 2007 and 2009.