Neymar Was Threatened With 5 Years In Prison On Charges Of Fraud And Corruption

JAKARTA Brazil's forward Neymar faces up to five years in prison. The player who strengthens Paris Saint-Germain will be tried next week on charges of fraud and corruption.

The accusation against the 30-year-old footballer relates to the transfer process from Santos to Barcelona in 2013. He was reported by Brazilian investment company DIS.

DIS, which owned 40 percent of Neymar's rights when he was in Santos, said their company lost a legitimate deduction from the transfer as the true value of the deal was reduced.

Neymar will face trial starting in Barcelona on Monday. Other defendants who will be summoned by Spanish prosecutors to take part in the trial are the player's parents, Santos and Barcelona, former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, and former president Santos Odilio Rodrigues.

Neymar, who will be the key player in Brazil's squad at Qatar's 2022 World Cup next month, has denied the allegations. However, he lost an appeal at the Spanish High Court in 2017 for the case to proceed to trial.

Neymar's lawyers and Baker McKenzie's family told Reuters they would argue "Spanish champions have no jurisdiction to sue Neymar's family" because the transfer involved Brazilian citizens in Brazil.

Spanish prosecutors want a two-year prison sentence for Neymar and a fine of 10 million Euros (Rp150 billion) plus a five-year prison sentence for Rosell and a fine of 8.4 million Euros (Rp126 billion) for Barcelona.

DIS also requested prison sentences for Rosell and Bartomeu as well as a total fine of 149 million Euros (Rp 2.2 trillion) for the defendants.

Rosell has previously denied wrongdoing. However, until now Rossel representatives do not want to comment. Barcelona and lawyers representing Bartomeu also declined to comment on the case.

Santos also gave the same attitude. Meanwhile, Rodrigues could not be contacted.

DIS should have earned 40 percent of Neymar's rights when he was 17 years old in exchange for 2 million euros. However, Neymar's sales to Barcelona are far below the actual market value.

Barca said at the time of Neymar's move that the transfer figure was 57.1 million Euros. 40 million of that amount has also been paid to the Neymar family.

DIS gets a 40 percent share of the remaining 17.1 million paid to Santos.

"Neymar's rights have not been sold to the highest bidder. There are clubs offering up to 60 million euros," DIS Paulo Nasser's lawyers said at a news conference in Barcelona on Thursday.

However, Neymar's lawyers argue that competition rules relate to products and services and do not apply to the transfer market.

"Free competition rules don't apply because transfers from one club to another depend on player free will," said spokesman Baker McKenzie.

"The player is neither a service nor a commodity. He is a person with his own free will," he added, saying Santos gave Neymar written permission to negotiate with other clubs in 2011.

The court at Barcelona where the trial will be held said Neymar should attend in person on Monday. However, it is unclear whether he will be asked to stay for the entire trial which could last for two weeks.