Corruption and fraud charges against Neymar have been let go by prosecutors in Spain.
According to reports on Sky Sport, the charges were made against the Paris St-Germain and Brazil forward and others accused in a trial over his 2013 transfer from Santos to Barcelona.
The 30-year-initial old’s legal defence package included a two-year prison sentence and a 10 million euro (£8.6 million) fine.
However, they declared that they were dropping all of the accusations they had been facing “against all the accused.”
Neymar’s parents, the two clubs, former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, as well as former Santos president Odilio Rodrigues, were among the other defendants in the case.
In response to the accusations, Neymar said he couldn’t recall if he had participated in the negotiations. His relocation from Santos to Barcelona was agreed upon in 2011 and carried out two years later.
It was also reported that, Investment firm DIS, which acquired a 40% share of Neymar’s rights when he was 17 in exchange for 2m euros, has argued it lost out because the transfer fee was undervalued.
DIS lawyer Paulo Nasser claimed there were clubs that offered up to 60m euros. Barcelona said at the time of Neymar’s move that the fee was 57.1m euros, of which 40m euros was paid to his family – DIS received a 40% share of the remaining 17.1m euros that was paid to Brazilian club Santos.
It’s learnt that, the Brazilian footballer lost an appeal in Spain’s High Court in 2017, leading to the trial being brought by Spanish prosecutors. DIS had asked for a five-year jail term for Neymar, as well as prison sentences for Rosell and Bartomeu, plus a 149m euros fine. Prosecutors had been seeking a five-year jail term for Rosell, plus an 8.4m euros fine for Barcelona, as well as a two-year sentence for Neymar and 10m euros fine. However, Baker McKenzie, the lawyers representing the Neymar family, claimed that Spanish courts “lack jurisdiction to prosecute the Neymar family and their company N&N” because the acts were committed by Brazilian nationals outside Spanish territory.
They also pointed out that the alleged crimes were not punishable in Brazil.
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