The private accusation brought by the Brazilian company DIS has reduced from five years in prison to two years and six months the sentence request for the player Neymar for a crime of corruption between individuals in the transfer in 2013 of the forward from Santos to FC Barcelona. However, he maintains that he is disqualified from practicing his profession during the sentence period. This reduction also applies to the rest of the defendants. Specific, for the former presidents of Barça Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, who were also asked for five years in prison, they are reduced to four for the first and two and six months for the second.
For the father of the carioca star, Neymar da Silva Santos, he requests four years in prison and for Barça a fine of 57 million euros. Neymar’s mother has been acquitted by withdrawing the accusation. And only in a subsidiary way, that is, if the judges do not consider the main accusation credible, have they introduced Santos and to its former director, Odilio Rodrigues. As is happening since the second session of the trial, two weeks ago, neither the player nor his parents have appeared due to the permission granted by the court to be absent. In the case of the striker, so that he could play the games and train.
The private prosecution has been left alone in the accusations. Last Friday, prosecutor Luis García Cantón withdrew the charges against those accused of corruption between individuals and fraud in the ‘DIS case’ or ‘Neymar 2 case’: from the Brazilian player, his father and mother, to the former presidents of Barça Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as the former president of Santos, Odilio Rodrigues, and the two clubs. The public accusation maintains that the defendants have not committed any crime, nor simulated any contract, because the case has not been built on the basis of evidence, “not even circumstantial”, but rather on “assumptions”. The prosecution demanded two years in prison for Neymar and up to five for other defendants, in addition to disqualification and fines of between three and ten million.
disagreement with the prosecutor
In the last session of the trial held this Monday, the lawyer for the private prosecution exercised by the DIS company argued in his final report why they maintained the accusations against the defendants and argued not only the existence of a crime, but also showed his disagreement with the modification made by the prosecution, which initially and provisionally did demand prison sentences for all the defendants.
After the intervention of the lawyer for the DIS companies and a second accusation, on behalf of a Brazilian soccer union, it will be the turn of the defenses, including that of Barça. And finally, and before the trial is seen for sentencing, the defendants have the opportunity to intervene in what is called the last word. For this, it is planned that videoconferences will be held with Paris, in the case of Neymar, and Brazil.
According to the accusation, Sandro Rosell, as president of Barcelona at the time, began negotiations to sign Neymar in 2011, when he was playing for Santos. The then maximum Barça president and the father of the Brazilian striker, who represents his son, agreed that Barça would pay the player 40 million to ensure his signing in 2014, when he was released from Santos, and that he would advance 10 million at the time with the condition that Neymar had to return the money if he breached the agreement. In 2013, Barça signed another agreement with Santos for a preferential option to purchase three players for 7.9 million. The suspicion is that this contract, like others signed for the celebration of friendly matches, was linked to the signing of Neymar. The reason, according to them, was not paying the percentage that the DIS company corresponded to.
