BARCELONA, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Spanish prosecutors on Friday dropped all fraud and corruption charges against Brazilian footballer Neymar and eight others in connection with the player’s transfer from Santos to FC Barcelona in 2013, prosecutors said general in court.
The prosecution had initially demanded a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 10 million euros against Neymar in a case brought by the Brazilian investment company DIS, which held 40% of the player’s rights when he was at Santos. .
DIS claim they lost their rightful share in Neymar’s transfer due to underestimating the value of the deal.
“There is not the slightest suspicion of a crime,” prosecutor Luis Garcia Canton said after hearing the defendants during the trial held in Barcelona, asking the judge “for the acquittal of all the defendants”.
The prosecution had also requested a five-year prison sentence for the former president of FC Barcelona, Sandro Rosell, and a fine of 8.4 million euros for FC Barcelona.
DIS wanted a five-year prison sentence for the player, at Paris Saint-Germain since 2017, fines totaling 149 million euros for the defendants and his disqualification for the duration of the sentence pronounced by the judge .
According to a court document released in July, FC Barcelona entered negotiations in 2011 with Neymar, paying him 40 million euros to secure his transfer as his contract with Santos expired in 2014.
“I believe it is excessive to consider that offering 40 million euros is a crime,” said the prosecutor, who called it a signing bonus. (Report Joan Faus and Fernando Kallas, French version Diana Mandiá)
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