The Barcelona Court judges this Monday the participants in the signing of the Brazilian Neymar Junior by FC Barcelona. The former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, the soccer player Neymar, his father Neymar Da Silva, his mother Nadine Gonçalves and the former president of Santos, Odilio Rodrigues, will sit on the bench of the accused. All of them are accused of corruption between individuals and fraud considering that they fragmented the transfer of the footballer in several contracts that they put into different concepts to mask the real cost of the transfer and save the payment of the federative rights to the company that held its owner, the background DIS.
The Prosecutor's Office asks for 5 years in prison for Sandro Rosell and demands a fine of 10 million euros for corruption in business and fraud. He also requests a disqualification for him to practice in the world of industry and commerce. For Neymar, the prosecutor asks for 2 years in prison for corruption in business. For his father, he also 2 years in prison and for his mother 1 year. For the former president of Santos he requests 3 years in prison. As was the case in the first case for the signing of Neymar, Futbol Club Barcelona as a legal entity is also accused. In case of conviction, the prosecution claims the club to pay 1.4 million euros for corruption and 7 million euros for fraud. This last amount, 7 million, is also claimed from Santos. To the company owned by Neymar's parents, called N
The defense of Neymar and his parents argue that the Spanish courts "lack jurisdiction", since it is about acts committed outside Spanish territory with a crime - corruption in business - that is not punishable in Brazil. Therefore, they consider that "it makes no sense to apply it in the transfer market, where the rules of free competition do not operate, since the transfer from one club to another depends on the free will of the player.
Sandro Rosell reached an agreement with Neymar in 2011 for him to sign for FC Barcelona in 2014 when his contract with Santos ended and he became a free agent. For this he promised to pay 40 million euros to the Neymar. In 2011, Barça advanced the Neymar 10 million euros. In case of not signing for Barça in 2014, the Neymars had to return the 40 million to the club plus the 10 million that they advanced. The contract was signed with the company N
However, the Barça board decided to anticipate the signing of the Brazilian by a year. So in 2013, Barça paid the Neymar the remaining 30 million and Rosell agreed with Santos to pay 17 million euros corresponding to the player's federative rights. In this way, DIS, which held 40% of those rights, received 6.8 million euros. However, the prosecution maintains that Barça and Santos signed four contracts worth 7.9 million euros that were masked in other games but that actually served to pay for the signing of the Brazilian. He considers that the real payment from Barça to Santos for Neymar's federative rights was 25 million euros and not 17, with which DIS should have received 10 million and not 6.8. The prosecution emphasizes that DIS must be compensated with 3.2 million.
Of the four contracts signed between Barça and Santos for Neymar's federal rights, three are simulated, according to the prosecutor. The first was a normal rights transfer contract for which 17 million euros were paid. DIS received 6.8 million.
There is a second contract signed by Rosell and Santos that established a collaboration agreement with the entity's base soccer. Barça reserved a preferential option for three footballers: Víctor Andrade Santos, for whom they paid 3.2 million, and who currently plays in the Brazilian Serie B. Givanildo Pulgas for which he paid 1.8 million euros and who now plays in the Brazilian series D. And Gabriel Barbosa, Gabigol, for whom he paid 2.9 million euros, and who is the only footballer who has been international and is a starter at Flamengo. For none of them the preferential right was exercised.
For the trial that will last until October 31, several witnesses linked to the operation will parade. Former director Javier Faus who will testify during the first session as well as former club player Andre Cury. On Tuesday it will be the turn of Florentino Pérez who will have to explain Real Madrid's intentions to sign Neymar and former Barça technical director Andoni Zubizarreta will also take the floor. Some of the people familiar with how the agreement with Santos was conceived will also testify at the trial: former Barça football director Raúl Sanllehí and Andre Zanota, former Santos football director, among others.
In December 2016, FC Barcelona, as a legal entity, was sentenced to pay a fine of 1.4 million euros for two tax offenses corresponding to the years 2011 and 2013 for the signing of Neymar. Those responsible for the club reached an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office by which the club accepted the sentence while former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep María Bartomeu were exonerated despite the fact that the prosecution claimed 2.3 years in prison for them.
