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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 investors DIS who claim they were cut out of Neymar's summer 2013 transfer to Barcelona. Audiencia Nacional judge Jose de la Mata was hearing the case and heard that the investment company had thought they owned 40 percent of the emerging superstar's rights when he was a Santos player but received less than 10 percent of the almost €100 million which Barca paid to sign the Brazil captain. Barca at first claimed the transfer fee was €57.1 million but later admitted to paying out much more, with a lot of the money going to companies controlled by Neymar's father. Just €17.1 million went to Santos, with DIS getting 40 percent of that sum -- €6.8 million. DIS chief Delcir Sonda brought legal cases in both Brazil and Spain to claim a larger share of the pie, and Neymar Junior, his father, Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and predecessor Sandro Rosell all gave evidence in front of Judge De la Mata earlier this year. Last Friday, 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 2013 deal "included behaviour which was clearly criminal which must be judged in a trial." Perals' view is that this behaviour limited the working of a free market for the player, using as evidence for this the apparent rejection of a €36 million 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. That pact saw the Catalan club admit wrongdoing in how the 2013 transfer was organised right from the beginning, and agree to pay €15 million in back taxes and a €5.5 million fine, with current president Josep Maria Bartomeu and predecessor Sandro Rosell cleared of charges which could have seen them sent to jail. La Liga president Javier Tebas has praised the Blaugrana board's decision to do the deal with the tax authorities, and admit that mistakes were made. "Barca have done well to recognise their mistakes in the Neymar case," Tebas said in Marca. This contrasts with La Liga's stance when the controversy over Neymar's arrival at the Camp Nou first began. In April 2014, two months after Rosell had resigned as president with the initial court investigation proceeding, the Economic Control Committee of the Liga Nacional de Futbol Professional (LFP) looked into the matter and found that "there is no evidence of any irregular conduct committed by the club."
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