Neymar, Neymar Sr. and two others charged with tax evasion and forgery

Barcelona may be all-conquering on the pitch, but it’s not the best of times for some of their stars as Brazilian Neymar Jr has joined colleagues Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano in courtroom battles.

Neymar, 23, his father, former club president Sandro Rosell and incumbent Josep Maria Bartomeu have all been charged with tax evasion and forgery of documents by authorities in Brazil.

The Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office in Santos accused all four of tax evasion and fraudulent misrepresentation, citing the Barcelona star’s father, Neymar Senior, as “the mastermind behind several acts of contractual fraud in managing Neymar’s image rights”.

Father and son have been accused of using an intermediate company, Neymar Sport e Marketing, which received money for Neymar’s image rights from both Santos and Barcelona, even though the player himself was the only one performing a service.

Hence Neymar would avoid paying income taxes as an individual – which would be higher than that for the company – cheating the Brazilian state, as it were, out of 55 per cent of the money which should have been paid, prosecutors claim.

Past and incumbent Barca presiddents, Rosell and Bartomew, also appeared in court. Image: Fox sports

A similar case is being investigated in Spain regarding Neymar’s 2013 transfer to Barcelona, in which the Brazil captain gave testimony on Tuesday.

Rosell and Bartomeu, the former and current presidents of the Catalan club respectively, are accused of forging “from November 2011 onwards a series of documents to simulate a qualified agreement between the player and Barcelona”.

Revelations regarding the forward’s transfer from Santos forced Rosell out of offfice in 2014.

Source: Goal