A fraud investigation surrounding the transfer of Neymar to Barcelona has been reopened after a successful appeal by prosecutors in Spain.
A ruling on Friday from Spain's National Court overturned the decision that was made in July, which stated that the case should be decided by a civil court rather than a criminal court. According to Reuters, the written ruling stated that the case had been reviewed and that the court "believed there was evidence that possible crimes had been committed."
The case centres on DIS, a Brazilian investment fund, which owns 40% of Neymar's rights and claims that it has not been allocated their full share from the deal that brought the player from Santos to Barcelona. Barcelona state that they paid €57m for the forward, the majority of which went to the parents of the player. Santos received just €17m as part of the deal, while DIS state that they have only received around €6.8 million.
Both Neymar and the Catalan club have denied any wrongdoing, but Barcelona agreed to pay a fine of €5.5 million in June to Spanish authorities.
The original case, which took place in February, called on a number of figures from the club to testify, including former president of the club Sandro Rossell, who resigned over the investigations into the transfer in 2014.
Marca report that there may also be the possibility of jail time for those involved in the case, with the legal system allowing for a punishment of of one to four years for fraud, and one to six years for corruption.
According to Yahoo, Barcelona manager Luis Enrique is not overly concerned about how the news will affect the player, stating: "If there is one player used to dealing with different situations and one team used to dealing with different situations, it is Barcelona. All the players and their coach are used to dealing with things that have nothing to do with football."
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