Barça FC current and previous chairmen face jail and multi-million fines over Neymar transfer
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 @ 12:01 PM
CHAIRMAN of Barça FC Josep María Bartomeu is facing two years and three months in jail and his predecessor, Sandro Rosell could go down for seven years and three months.
They are accused of tax fraud and money-laundering when taking on Brazilian whizz-kid Neymar last year to play for the premier league Spanish team.
Barça FC itself could be ordered to pay over €33 million in fines and outstanding duties, which includes €13m in unpaid tax for the years 2011, 2013 and 2014.
The club, in light of the charges pressed against its current and previous boss, made a voluntary payment of €13.5m to the tax authorities last year, which will be offset against any eventual fine.
Judge Pablo Ruz – who is also investigating the PP government's slush-fund allegations and the massive Gürtel corruption scandal – calculated Neymar's transfer to be in region of €83.3m, although Rosell (pictured left) said the Brazilian was bought by Barça for €57.1m.
Rosell resigned under pressure a day after Barça member Jordi Cases filed action against him in January last year for allegedly hiding the true cost of Neymar's transfer from Santos FC, an operation that involved at least 10 different contracts signed between the two clubs.
Concealing figures also affected the balance sheet value of Barça FC since its true fixed assets total was not declared, according to prosecutor José Perals, who has called for the two prison sentences and the multi-million fines.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com