Spain reopens Neymar fraud case – court filing

A fraud case against Neymar and his father relating to the Brazilian international’s 2013 transfer to Barcelona has been re-opened following an appeal by Spanish prosecutors.

The High Court said in its written ruling on Friday that after reviewing the case and the decision to drop it, it believed there was evidence that possible crimes had been committed.

DIS has claimed that a pre-transfer contract was signed between Neymar and Barcelona which affected the player’s transfer value in the process.

“Barcelona will maintain the thesis that it has defended all along, showing that all those being investigated are innocent”, the club said in a statement.

A High Court judge had initially dropped the charges in July against Neymar and his father-cum-agent Neymar Da Silva Santos, as well as against former Barcelona president Sandro Rossell and ex-Santos president Odilio Rodrigues.

Judge Jose de la Mata dismissed the complaint raised by investment fund DIS, which owned 40 percent of Neymar when he was a Santos player, less than three months ago, but that verdict has been challenged by fellow magistrate Angela Murillo.

In a separate case, Barcelona agreed to pay a €5.5m fine earlier this year with president Josep Maria Bartomeu admitting “a mistake in tax planning” when signing Neymar. Santos received just €17m as part of the deal, while DIS state that they have only received around €6.8 million.

Neymar is far from the only Barca star to find himself embroiled in problems with the Spanish authorities.

The sentences become suspended terms if the convictions are not violence related and are under two-year terms.

Prosecutors said the difference comes from payments made by Barcelona for the future acquisitions of other players, as well as partnerships for friendly matches between the clubs.

Barcelona have opposed the re-opening of Neymar’s transfer case and denied claims of a Uruguay “pact” over Luis Suarez.

“The players, the manager – we are used to things that have got absolutely nothing to do with football”.