Khaberni - The Spanish judiciary has closed the case concerning the transfer of Brazilian player Neymar Junior to Barcelona, and acquitted him along with former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu of the charges of corruption and fraud directed at them.
The Appeals Court rejected the appeals against the initial ruling by the Barcelona court, and upheld the decision to acquit Neymar and several former Barcelona officials from charges of corruption in business transactions and indirect fraud in the form of a sham contract, which were directed at them following the player's transfer deal to the Catalan club in 2013, as reported by "Cadena SER".
The court also rejected the appeal filed by the DIS company, which owned 40 percent of Neymar's economic rights in 2009 when he was playing at the Brazilian club Santos.
The Catalan club had struck a deal with the player in 2011 ensuring his transfer to the club when he was free in 2014, and paid an amount the company considered fraudulent, asserting that it should be included in the economic compensations it would receive.
However, the Brazilian player, who was at his peak, moved to Barcelona early in 2013 before the agreed date, and DIS received about 7 million dollars from the player's transfer, which equals 40 percent of the economic rights it owned.
The company claimed that Barcelona and Neymar signed the contract with the intent to defraud the company's economic rights, but the court affirmed that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the preceding contracts aimed to conceal fraudulent intentions towards the company's rights, rather they were part of a normal practice of a club seeking to contract with the player upon the expiration of his contract.
The court confirmed that the contract and the intention were genuine and they comply with sports law and the regulations of FIFA and UEFA.
