Almost five months have passed since Neymar moved to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, but his previous transfer, the one that took him from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, was now under the scrutiny of French justice. Investigators are analyzing whether there were fiscal irregularities, in a case that affects not only the Parisian club, but also the country’s politics.
According to information published by the newspaper Libération, the former PSG communications director, Jean-Martial Ribes, asked the Government for “fiscal favors” to pay in 2017 the termination clause of Ney’s contract with Barça, estimated at around 222 millions of euros.
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On the mobile phone of Ribes, already accused of corruption and influence peddling, they found a hundred SMS and WhatsApp messages exchanged with Hugues Renson, former deputy of President Emmanuel Macron’s party and former vice president of the National Assembly (the lower house of the French Parliament).
These messages suggest that Renson was the link to pressure the Government to exempt PSG from paying some taxes on the transfer of the Brazilian star, and in exchange, the then legislator “benefited from numerous tickets for matches”, as well as other advantages.
This investigation, which the French media indicate is in its initial phase, could also affect Gérald Darmanin, currently Minister of the Interior, and Minister of Public Accounts at the time of Neymar’s signing with the Parisian institution.
