Ball and escape, under the sign of Barça. In Catalonia there are cases of tax evasion involving Blaugrana players. Before Mascherano, who paid a fine of 800 thousand euros and negotiated a year in prison (which he will pay with another fine) for evading 1,5 million euros.
Then Messi, sentenced in recent months to 21 months in prison for tax evasion worth 4,1 million euros. A small Argentine colony, which refreshes, also from this point of view, the myth of the great tax evader Diego Maradona, whose dispute with the Italian tax authorities has been going on for at least thirty years. El Diez, obviously, had also passed through Barcelona.
Albiceleste joins the leaders of the selection Neymar, ended up in the middle of a very intricate case. DIS, the company that held 40% of Neymar's rights when he was a Santos player, having considered the effect of his sale to Barcelona, has asked the National Court for a five-year prison sentence for Neymar and a disqualification of five years. However, the prosecution reduced its request for the footballer's conviction to two years in prison, adding a monstrous fine of 10 million euros.
The investment fund, however, has something for everyone, and has also asked for eight years in prison for the current president of Barcelona Josep Maria Bartomeu, and for his predecessor, Sandro Rosell, in light of the damage caused by Neymar's transfer to Barcelona, for which DIS is asking for compensation between 159 and 195 million euros. Indeed, according to the fund, in 2011 the player and his father signed two contracts with Barcelona ignoring the fact that the player's rights belonged to Santos and Dis.
However, another Barcelona champion also ended up in trouble, but this time from the past. It's about Samuel Eto'o, currently under the Turkish side of Antalyaspor. For the Cameroonian, the Barcelona prosecutor's office is asking for a sentence of ten and a half years in prison and a fine of 14 million euros.
The accusation is that of having defrauded the tax authorities of 3,5 million euros in the three years in which he played with the "Blaugrana". Eto'o, according to the tax agency, allegedly simulated the transfer of image rights to two companies to avoid paying personal income tax. Usually, as in the case of Messi and Mascherano, the player's defensive line is based on the “I didn't know anything about it. I just play." Frankly, they've heard better ones. But at this rate, around Barcelona, we might have to hear it again.
