Football
9y

Neymar tax fraud trial moved to Barcelona court

The trial of Barcelona, club president Josep Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell for alleged tax evasion linked to Neymar's arrival from Santos in 2013 is to be heard in front of a Catalan judge, the National Court in Madrid said on Friday.

The trial centres on investigators' allegations that the club only declared that they paid €57.1 million for the player when they actually paid "at least'' €83.371m.

Earlier this month Judge Jose de la Mata, who has succeeded Judge Pablo Ruz in leading the probe, ordered the court to begin drafting a proposed indictment against the defendants and ruled there is enough evidence to begin a trial on Wednesday.

However de la Mata now appears to have overturned a decision by Ruz to have the centralised 'Audencia Nacional' hear the case, opting instead to send it to Barcelona where it will be heard in a Catalan court.

According to El Pais and Marca, the latest decision was made as the issues involved are not deemed significant enough to merit the attention of the highest national court, and those potentially damaged have been Barca's own club members who are generally Catalan-based.

Barca have welcomed the decision with a club statement saying it had always argued that the court in Madrid was not the correct place for the case to be heard.

"Football Club Barcelona states that this morning the Sala de lo Penal of the Audiencia Nacional has accepted the appeal presented by its president Josep Maria Bartomeu, ex-president Sandro Rosell, and Football Club Barcelona itself, declaring the Juzgado Central de Instruccion is not competent and agreeing in favour of judges in Barcelona," the statement said. "The case has been conducted by a judicial body now declared incompetent, as the club has always understood, which is why it raised the question of competence, which today has brought favourable news. Football Club Barcelona wishes to make clear its absolute confidence in the courts and the behaviour of its directors has always been within the law, trusting in its technical defence for correct application of the law."

Although the case began initially from a complaint by Blaugrana member Jordi Cases, Blaugrana club officials have regularly complained that it has been motivated by anti-Barca bias in the Spanish capital.

Earlier this month Barca vice-president Jordi Cardoner called the case "an attack on Catalonia," while in January 2014 Bartomeu suggested that unnamed figures in Madrid were pushing for Barca to be punished.

Bartomeu, Rosell and potentially Neymar and the player's father Neymar senior, are all likely to appear in a Barcelona court when the case is now finally heard. No trial date has yet been set.

All parties have denied any wrongdoing on several occasions, and Barcelona have a right to appeal.

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