La Liga start investigation into Neymar's move to Barcelona
Barcelona's signing of Brazilian superstar, Neymar, is under investigation by La Liga. The Barcelona board of directors have been summoned to court because of the handling of the Brazilian’s transfer.
According to Catalunya Radio, sources at Barcelona and La Liga have now confirmed that the club has been asked to provide more information regarding the transfer and La Liga are still continuing the investigation.
The case has been opened because of the agreement the club reached with prosecutors to pay fines in order to avoid prosecution for tax fraud.
Initially, the Spanish league holders claimed that they had paid Santos, Neymar's parent club a fee of €57.3m so as to secure the Brazilian's transfer as reported by AS.
However, Barcelona economic vice-president Susana Monje, later clarified, that while €40m was paid to N&N, a company owned by Neymar's father, as a part of Neymar's salary, €19.3m was the cost of the transfer.
Also read: PSG offered Neymar over $44m annual salary, says agent
The eventual fee of the fine was agreed when the club and the prosecutors struck a deal over the transfer.
The Spanish tax authorities claimed that the values were too low than what had been shown initially. After a lot of debate, Barcelona agreed to pay €5.5m fine to avoid prosecution charges on tax fraud.
Current club president Josep María Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell, being the people who were directly responsible at the club for the way the transfer was structured, eluded prison time and subsequent fines thanks to this deal.
Despite reports of Real Madrid being interested in the youngster, the 2011 Puskas award winner, signed for the Catalunya club in 2013 after an impressive season at Santos. Neither the Brazilian club nor Barcelona revealed the transfer fee and only confirmed that the player was signed on a five-year deal.
Also read: Barcelona take legal action against Santos over Gabigol sale
Details of the transfer fee or personal terms were only disclosed in 2014 after an initial investigation by the prosecutor's office in Madrid over the transfer fee that Barcelona paid for Neymar. It came to light that the documents submitted to the authorities on request contained contradictory information and this led to Rosell’s resignation.
The Brazilian captain has had a successful stint at the Camp Nou so far, scoring 55 goals in 94 La Liga appearances, although he has been involved in controversies off the field. He has also recently announced the launch of his upcoming music single.