Prosecutor implicates Bartomeu in Neymar transfer investigation
Whatever is happening on the field, it seems there are no quiet weeks for FC Barcelona. Monday was supposed to be a slow day, until the Neymar case once more reared its ugly head. The latest chapter in the Neymar saga is that yesterday the prosecutor of the Audiència Nacional, José Perals, called on the judge overseeing the case, Pablo Ruz, to charge the current Barça president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, with fraud in 2014 amounting to 2,845,700 million euros. The prosecutor decided on this course of action after receiving a report from the tax office that accused FC Barcelona of not declaring 2.6 million euros tax arising from a contract in the Neymar transfer. Perals argues that the club had a duty to pay the tax bill last year, now that the player is a resident in Spain.
However, the supposed irregularities do not end here. Barça is also accused of not paying tax in 2014 worth 234,000 euros from image rights and another 11,700 euros tax from a payment to the player's agent, in this case Neymar's father. The total tax bill comes to 2,845,700 million euros. Perals called on Ruz to open this file as part
of the main investigation into the Neymar case. He also argued that the case should go to trial as soon as possible.