Spain prosecutors urge Neymar corruption trial

The Brazilian striker, his father, and his club are accused of concealing cost of multi-million-euro transfer from DIS

MADRID: Spanish prosecutors want Brazilian star Neymar tried over fraud allegedly committed during his 2011 transfer to FC Barcelona, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors from Spain's top criminal court accuse the striker, his father, Barca's ex-president Sandro Rosell and the club itself of concealing the cost of the multi-million-euro transfer from Brazilian investment fund DIS.



DIS held 40 per cent of the 24-year-old's sporting rights when he played at Brazil's Santos club and has claimed it was cheated of its real share of the transfer due to parallel contracts that Barcelona and Santos allegedly used to hide the total cost.

The transfer deal was originally valued at 57.1 million euros ($64.9 million) by Barca, 40 million of which was paid to the N&N company owned by the player's father with Santos -- where Neymar started his career -- receiving 17.1 million.



However, Spanish judicial authorities have estimated the number of simultaneous deals in the transfer amounted to at least 83.3 million -- with the difference allegedly going to Neymar and his family, and Santos.