BARCELONA, 28 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former president of Barça Josep Maria Bartomeu has denied in the trial for the ‘Neymar 2 case’ that he participated in the contracts for the signing of the player from Santos FC, when he was sports vice president of the Blaugrana club.
Bartomeu is accused of alleged fraud and corruption between individuals in the transfer of the player, for which the accusation of the Dis fund – owner of 40% of the player’s federal rights – demands a sentence of five years in prison.
The circumstance is that the Prosecutor’s Office does not accuse Bartomeu, only the private prosecution, and since he has availed himself of his right to answer only the interrogations of the defenses, he has not received questions from any prosecution.
The former president of Barça has assured that at that time “he had no knowledge of the existence of Dis” and has assured that the club had a signature protocol by which the vice president of each area, in his sports case, signed together with the president the documents of his specialty.
When asked if he agrees with the explanation given by former Blaugrana president Sandro Rosell as to why the player’s signing was brought forward, he said that he “totally agrees with his version” that both visited then-coach Tito Vilanova while he was undergoing medical treatment in New York and he asked them to advance the signing.
