Spanish Courts Free Neymar Regarding Cases Of Fraud And Corruption

Neymar (Instagram @neymarjr)

JAKARTA The Spanish court released Brazilian soccer star Neymar from a case of alleged fraud and corruption related to his 2013 transfer from Santos to Barcelona.

The judge also decided to release nine other defendants who were tried in this trial. Among them are Barcelona, the former Catalan president Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, Santos and Neymar's father.

The Neymar trial took place in mid-October at Barcelona or just a month before the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Prosecutors initially demanded a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 10 million euros against the Paris Saint-Germain star.

Therefore, it was quite surprising when they decided to drop allegations of corruption and fraud against all defendants.

Earlier, in October, prosecutor Luis Garcia Canton had asked the Barcelona court to release all defendants for "not the slightest evidence of a crime".

The trial of Neymar and nine other defendants was a continuation of the lawsuit by the Brazilian sports investment company DIS in 2015. The company has a 40 percent right over Neymar when he was still in Santos.

DIS filed a lawsuit on charges of having been deceived in the transfer process of the player to Barcelona. They claim Neymar, Barcelona, and Santos colluded to manipulate the true transfer value.

DIS also argued that it was not informed of an exclusive contract in 2011 between Neymar and Barcelona.

However, the Spanish prosecutor, who initially had the same view as DIS, later said the allegations were not based on "evidence". They concluded the case was a civil and non-criminal court matter.

Although the prosecutor canceled the indictment, the case continued as the court also considered the separate charges filed by DIS as permitted by Spanish law.

DIS sendiri berusaha untuk kembali mendapatkan nominal sekitar 35 juta Euro yang mereka klaim sebagai kerugian yang akibat penipuan tersebut.