Barcelona striker Neymar cleared in $20m tax evasion case

Brazilian football star Neymar has been cleared of any criminal charges in a long-running tax evasion case in Brazil, with the judge citing a “lack of just cause”.

Barcelona striker Neymar cleared in $20m tax evasion case

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Neymar da Silva Santos Junior had been embroiled in the federal tax case for four years and was charged with evading BRL63m (£15.3m, $19.9m, €17.1m) in taxes in 2015, reports newswire Reuters.

The money was due on income earned from sponsors and football clubs Santos and Barcelona between 2011 and 2014.

In March 2016, a federal court in Rio de Janeiro found Neymar guilty of tax fraud and ordered him to pay BRL188.8m in fines and back-taxes.

The striker appealed the ruling and a year later a court found somewhat in his favour and ordered him to pay half the sum.

At the same time, separate criminal charges of evading Brazilian taxes on his 2013 transfer to Barcelona were being brought by federal prosecutors.

Those charges were officially dropped on Wednesday.

Unfounded accusations

In a statement sent to Reuters, Neymar’s father and agent said that the decision was a major victory.

“It is with great happiness that we received the news of the shelving of the public ministry’s case of tax evasion. The process is officially closed that proves the legality of all our acts,” Neymar Senior said.

“These were four years of unfounded accusations that me, my family and the employees of my companies suffered through, in every possible way.

“Although many people doubted it, there is justice in our country. Charge by charge, one after the other, they were knocked down by our defence, leaving it explicitly clear that we did not avoid paying one cent of tax.

Neymar Snr said: “I hope we can now concentrate on our work and that my family has the peace it deserves.”

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