Barcelona forward Neymar, his parents and two of the club's execs "should stand trial for alleged corruption," Spain's High Court said on Monday as it "wrapped up a fraud investigation" into the player's transfer to the Catalan team, according to Sarah White of REUTERS. The case stems from a complaint by Brazilian investment group DIS, which owned part of Neymar's transfer rights and which "alleges it received less money than it was entitled to." Investigating magistrate José de la Mata, from Spain's High Court, said in a written ruling that the prosecution "had 10 days to decide to go ahead or withdraw" their claim -- a formality that "normally precedes the launch of a trial process." DIS owned 40% of Neymar's sporting rights when the player's transfer to Barça went ahead "and claims Barcelona hid the real fee and kept it out of the loop in its dealings." The Spanish court said that it was proposing that Neymar, his father-cum-agent Neymar Da Silva Santos and his mother Nadine Goncalves, a 50% shareholder of the family company N&N, "be tried on a corruption charge." It also recommended that Barcelona President Josep María Bartomeu, his predecessor Sandro Rosell and the club should also stand trial for corruption and fraud (REUTERS, 11/7).
