Off the wire
• Paris-Nice cycling fifth stage results  • Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, March 13  • WHO to host first ministerial conference on global action against dementia  • Ethiopian runner triumphs in Jerusalem international marathon  • Ferrari quick, Mercedes dominant in Australian GP practice  • Greek statistical authority revises up 2014 GDP growth to 0.8 pct  • Icebreaker sailors strike affects major Finnish ports  • Fire, blast reported in southeast England school  • China to be best presented at Milan Expo 2015: Sala  • American volunteer in S. Leone admitted to NIH hospital for Ebola treatment  
You are here: 　 Home

Barcelona president, his predecessor and the club itself to face trail for fraud

Xinhua, March 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

The current President of FC Barcelona, Josep Bartomeu, his predecessor, Sandro Rosell and the football club itself will have to stand trial accused of tax fraud it was confirmed on Friday.

Judge Pablo Ruz, who also investigated the Gurtel corruption trial, believes there is enough evidence to proceed with charges of fraud and maladministration related to irregularities linked to the signing of Brazilian striker, Neymar in the summer of 2013.

Neymar was signed when Rosell was President of the club and Bartomeu his vice-president for a cost which Rosell insisted was 57.1 million euros (around 65 million euros). However, the complicated nature of the contracts involved in the signing mean the real value was closer to 100 million euros, meaning that the tax authorities have been defrauded by around 13 million euros.

Rosell resigned in January 2014 as a result of the accusations and during a court appearance in February this year Bartomeu insisted he has nothing to do with the negotiations of the Neymar deal and that neither he nor the club had intentionally committed fraud. Endite