FC Barcelona striker Neymar appeared in the Spanish National Court in Madrid on Tuesday to answer charges of corruption and fraud related to his transfer from Brazilian club, Santos in the summer of 2013.
The striker arrived at the court along with his father, who is also under investigation, looking relaxed and even stopped to sign autographs before entering the building, Xinhua reported.
His declaration lasted for 90 minutes
Neymar left the building without making any declarations to the press. The investigation involves the contracts signed by Barcelona and Santos following a lawsuit placed by the company 'DIS' which owned a 40 percent stake in the player.
DIS claim they should be paid 40 percent of the 83.3 million euros ($91 million) Spanish authorities estimate Barca paid for the 23-year-old. Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell, who are also indicted in the case, had earlier appeared in court on Monday.
Neymar suffers a fresh legal blow
Barcelona’s star striker suffered a fresh legal blow on Tuesday when Brazilian prosecutors filed a tax fraud and forgery case against him. This happened just hours after he gave testimony in Spain.
The federal prosecutors in Brazil launced proceedings against Neymar and his father. He has been accused of committing the crimes between 2006 and 2013.
The Brazilian prosecution’s statement said: “They forged a series of documents between 2006 and 2013 with the intention of reducing the taxes owed to the inland revenue in Brazil. Neymar’s conduct, along with the others accused, caused millions in losses to the public coffers.”
He and his family denied wrongdoing in both the cases.
