Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has claimed that anger in Madrid that his club signed Neymar is behind him being personally charged with committing a tax fraud during the transfer.
The latest step in a long-running saga relating to the summer 2013 transfer has seen judge Pablo Ruz accept a Spanish state prosecutor's petition that Bartomeu be charged for his role in allegedly defrauding the Spanish taxpayer of 2.8 million euros during the deal.
Ruz is overseeing an investigation into whether former Barca president Sandro Rosell misappropriated funds to hide the transfer cost paid to Santos. The Catalan club have long maintained they did nothing wrong in the complex deal, when the Brazilian star was persuaded to spurn interest from Real Madrid and move to the Camp Nou.
Hours after it emerged that the current Blaugrana president had been summoned to give evidence before Madrid's Audiencia Nacional court on Feb. 13, he told Catalan station 8TV that annoyance in the Spanish capital at missing out on the player was the initial spur for all the subsequent legal issues.
"I do not want to say so much," Bartomeu said. "Neymar's father has already said that Madrid were after him, and they did not like him coming to Barca. Every time he plays well they charge us. That is the big question.
"Maybe it is that we have signed Neymar and that triggered movement from someone who did not want him to come to Barcelona. Someone has crossed the red line and we must say 'enough.' There are too many things connected, and it must be stopped. We have done nothing wrong."
Pressed as to whether the club had brought any of this on themselves by making mistakes during the complicated transfer, Bartomeu said Barca had received the best advice and broken no laws.
"Barca did nothing wrong," he said. "We signed Neymar advised by great offices like Cuatrecasas. Everything was done well. It does not bother us that they accuse us, but that the judge charges us. That has angered us a lot. We would continue doing everything exactly the same. We did not commit any crimes."
The fraud issue appears to relate to a court interpretation of whether extra monies were paid by Barcelona to secure the player's signature, on top of the initially public 57.1 million euros transfer fee.
After legal proceedings began, and Rosell had resigned as president in January 2014, the club itself published a breakdown showing a number of side-payments to the N&N company run by Neymar's father, with the total involved rising to 86.2 million euros.
Bartomeu said he still maintained that the transfer fee for Neymar was 57 million euros, and that other payments were to do with separate work done for the club by the player's father, adding that the deep investigation of the deal was highly unusual in Spain and suggested the Catalan club was being specifically targeted.
"It was what we said, although there are contracts for work which his father does," he said. "We maintain that he cost 57 million euros. In the prosecutors' document other quantities are added in, but the important thing is there are other teams with power who did not like that we signed him. It is the first time a club has been charged in a state like Spain, which has so many problems with corruption, and apart from the sporting side this makes us think there is something else.
"Maybe it is coincidence that when Barcelona begin to win, the prosecutors move in less than 24 hours. It is not normal. Nothing like this has been seen for many years. That they investigate me, my business, and my directors, also does not seem normal. And I can include in this the players who have also suffered inspections. They are looking at Barca under a magnifying glass. There are powers in the state who do not like what is happening at Barcelona. We are receiving too many attacks."
Barca's regular institutional support for moves towards Catalan independence had played a part in angering the authorities in Madrid, Bartomeu claimed.
"I agree that it has an influence," he said. "Barca giving its stadium for the 'concert for freedom', playing with the 'senyera' colours on Sept. 11 [Catalan national day], or taking part in the Via Catalana [independence protest], maybe they did not like that. There is a political price in all of this, but we will work and we will fight to reach the end of this, advised by lawyers of the level of Cuatrecasas. There are certain powers in the state who have not liked that Neymar went to Barca, a Catalan or Catalanista club."
La Liga president Javier Tebas has offered a partial backing for Bartomeu's claims, saying that his legal opinion was there were "errors" in the fraud charges levelled against him.
The lawyer-by-profession said he was not commenting on Bartomeu's political claims, but told AS that legally speaking the brief in the case looked questionable.
"I have read the brief and in the part referring to Bartomeu being charged there are legal errors," Tebas said. "The brief refers to the IRPF [tax] of 2014 and that can be paid until Jan. 31, 2015. It is not normal that in four days they have charged him."
Tebas was also clear to say he was not commenting on the pending charges faced by Rosell, but just the latest specific incident which is linked to Barca's 2014 tax returns.
"It is an arguable case in law, and Bartomeu could be correct," he said. "I am speaking in his case, not about Rosell's case. I speak as a lawyer, and I believe Barcelona could be right, but in the legal world new proofs appear sometimes, so you never know."
Tebas also supported Bartomeu's decision not to resign having been charged with an offence, recalling that he himself faced legal charges and had not stepped down from his position as La Liga chief.
"I have also been charged and I have not resigned," he said. "[Bartomeu] also has no reason to resign."
Blaugrana figures have made similar claims of a "conspiracy" in the Spanish capital, while discussing the transfer ban imposed by FIFA for breaking youth transfer regulations. In April 2014, Bartomeu told a news conference he had "evidence" that outside forces were "trying to damage Barcelona," leading to allegations by the Catalan media of matters being guided from behind the scenes in Madrid.
