According to Cadena SER, the Audiencia Nacional (High Court) admitted a new lawsuit filed by DIS (the owner of 40% of Neymar’s rights when he transferred to Barcelona) against the acting Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu and Neymar for corruption and fraud. The lawsuit also includes Barça as a club, the former president Sandro Rosell and the player’s father.
The Audiencia Nacional accepted DIS’ claim of corruption between individuals and fraud of around €40m. On May 25, the Sala de lo Penal (Criminal Division) of the Audiencia Nacional left the matter in the hands of the Audiencia de Barcelona to decide if there was a crime in the Neymar case. The Audiencia had to decide on appeals presented by the club against its prosecution.
DIS previously announced its intention to claim damages and losses for the operation which earned them €6.8m. Santos were paid €17.1m by Barcelona for the transfer. DIS checked that the company N&N had earned €40m for the forward’s rights.
Barça found a problem here. If, as argued, the €40m pertained to the player’s salary, the club did not declare it. If it formed part of the transfer, DIS should have taken €16m. In addition, DIS accuses Santos of entering in Barça’s contractual simulation game in the scam as they would have accepted €7.9m from the Catalan club for the preferential rights of three players. This money that was paid represents sunk costs as two of the three Santos players are no longer at the Brazilian club. They are Víctor Andrade (Benfica) and Giva (Coritiba).