Rosell takes heart from his management at Barça in the trial of Neymar

by time news

BarcelonaThe second trial for the signing of Neymar by Barça, in which the Brazilian star, his parents and the last two former presidents of Barça have sat in the dock, has been seen for sentencing at the Court of Barcelona this Monday with final allegation of the defendants. Sandro Rosell has appealed his acquittal first through his lawyer, Rafael Alcázar, who has referred to the “injustices” of the past in reference to the time he was in prison by order of the National Court, and then in the first person, to talk about his management at the head of the club: “I am proud to have been the president of Barça”, said Rosell. He was followed by the voice of the entity in this trial, the compliance Sergi Atienza, who assures that the club “has been wrongly accused” in a case that arose “from the complaint of a pharmacist who was a member of Barça”, recalled Josep Maria Bartomeu.

It remains to be seen what will be the verdict of the court that tried the case after the private prosecution (representing the interests of the DIS investment fund, which had 40% of the footballer’s federation rights) has been left alone in the time to defend that there was corruption and fraud in the signing of the player. In fact, the position of the prosecution has been deflated as the sessions of the trial progressed. On Friday, it was the Prosecutor’s Office that decided to withdraw all the accusations and asked to exonerate all the accused because, once the trial was over, it saw no evidence of a criminal offense, only administrative irregularities, in the operation that served to bring the Brazilian star at the Barcelona club. This Monday, the private prosecution also lowered its request for punishment. Although he initially asked for five years in prison for Neymar and eight for Rosell and Bartomeu, he is now asking for 2.5 years for Neymar and Bartomeu and four for Rosell and the footballer’s father.

Fine of 57 million for Barça

In the case of Neymar, the private prosecution requests that the sentence be accompanied by a ban of two and a half years as a footballer, while for Barça a fine of 57 million euros is requested. During his presentation, the lawyer representing the DIS investment fund, Eliseo Martínez, assured that in the trial “it was perfectly evident” that there was corruption in the signing of Neymar. The Prosecutor’s Office does not see it the same and has withdrawn the accusation against all those prosecuted. For the prosecutor in the case, the 40 million euros that were paid to the Brazilian star does not constitute a bribe, but a “signing premium”. “One may or may not agree with the number, but this exists and is legal,” said the representative of the public ministry last Friday.

In fact, Barça’s lawyer, Jordi Pina, recalled in Monday’s session that the first sentence for the Neymar I case, in which Barça ended up being sentenced to a fine of 5.5 million euros for two crimes of fraud at the Treasury, the court concluded that the 40 million euros of Neymar’s signing corresponded to the player’s salary. “And a salary is not a commission,” said the penalty judge. Rosell’s lawyer, Rafael Alcázar, hopes that the court will align with the theses of the Prosecutor’s Office and that the former president of Barça – who, with this one, has already faced four trials, two of which for the signing of Neymar for Barça – no longer have to answer to the Justice. “I want to trust that it will be one of the last judicial cases that Rosell has to face and that it will end in acquittal,” he assured during the presentation of his final report. Unlike Rosell and Bartomeu, Neymar and his father (who joined the trial by video conference) did not want to make use of the final plea.



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