Spanish prosecutors have dropped all fraud and corruption charges against Neymar and others accused over his transfer to Barcelona from Santos in 2013.
Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison term for Neymar, who now plays for French side Paris Saint-Germain, as well as the payment of a 10 million euros fine.
Reuters report that Neymar’s legal representatives, Baker Mckenzie, will claim costs against the private prosecution for what they consider recklessness, acting in poor faith and for abuse of process.
They could also seek damages.
“There is not the slightest hint of crime,” prosecutor Luis Garcia Canton told a Barcelona court, as per Reuters, asking the judge for the “acquittal of all defendants”.
Neymar will have the right to have a final say via video conference on the last day of the trial, scheduled for Monday.
Neymar, as well as a number of others, faced accusations of private corruption and attempted fraud relating to his transfer from Santos to Barcelona in 2013.
The Brazilian company DIS owned 40 per cent of Neymar’s rights in 2013. It claimed the footballer’s camp, Barcelona and Santos orchestrated a network of unofficial payments to hide the final price, and eventually cut its share out of the transfer to Spain.
Claims from DIS were investigated by the Spanish prosecutor’s office, who brought to the dock of Barcelona’s provincial court a renowned list of suspects: Neymar, his parents Neymar da Silva and Nadine Goncalves, former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as former Santos president Odilio Rodrigues.
All the defendants denied any wrongdoing.
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