⚖️ Supreme Court acquits Neymar, Rosell and Bartomeu of corruption | OneFootball

The Supreme Court has upheld the acquittal of former FC Barcelona player Neymar and the club’s former presidents, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, in the case concerning the Brazilian’s transfer, according to EFE.

Those involved had been under investigation for alleged corruption between private parties and fraud in Neymar’s 2013 transfer to Barcelona from Santos.

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Chamber has dismissed the appeals against the ruling of the Barcelona Court.

The Supreme Court’s conclusions

The Supreme Court states: "In the present case, the proven facts have shown the inconsistency of the accusation and that, at the time the contracts were entered into, there was in no way any simultaneous intent to defraud by undermining DIS’s economic rights. This is so because, although the appellant argues that all of this was done to harm those rights and alter the final transfer price, thereby reducing DIS’s economic rights, that was not the case, as the court clearly explained, as we have set out. There was neither business corruption nor fraud. Not by the player, nor his representatives, nor FC Barcelona. Everything was due to a sporting decision by the club, which wanted to secure his signing and then decided to bring it forward and pay a transfer fee, even though it had a contract with the player for him to leave on a free transfer at the end of his commitment with Santos."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

📸 David Ramos - 2013 Getty Images