The Spanish state prosecutor "will appeal last week's court judgement to reject criminal charges" in a case brought on behalf of Brazilian third-party investor DIS, which claims it was "cut out" of Neymar's summer '13 transfer to Barcelona, according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN.com. On Friday, Audiencia Nacional judge Jose de la Mata ruled that there was "not enough evidence for criminal proceedings to continue," however his judgement included a suggestion that a civil case could prosper as "it seems clear that Futbol Club Barcelona, Neymar and his father, clearly did not follow the legal obligations imposed by FIFA's transfer statutes." Now prosecutor Jose Perals has appealed against that judgement, saying that the '13 deal "included behaviour which was clearly criminal which must be judged in a trial." Perals' view is that this behavior "limited the working of a free market for the player, using as evidence for this the apparent rejection" of a €36M bid for Neymar from Real Madrid which would have seen Santos -- and DIS -- receive more money. This court case, known in Spain as "Caso Neymar II," is "not directly related to the recent deal agreed between Barcelona and the Spanish tax authorities" (ESPN.com, 7/15).
