The left-wing presidential candidate in Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attacked, on Tuesday October 18, Neymar, the Brazilian football star who supports current President Jair Bolsonaro, mocking the fact that this choice would be motivated by a reduction of its debt with the Brazilian tax authorities.
Lula didn’t mince words about Neymar choosing to back the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro for the presidential election in Brazil, the second round of which will take place on 30 October.
“ Neymar has the right to choose whoever he wants as president. I think he is afraid that if I win the election, I will know what Bolsonaro forgave him (about) of his debt (in matter) income tax. I think that’s why he’s afraid of me “Commented Lula, laughing when he was asked, in an interview with the YouTube channel Flow Podcast, if he was angry with the PSG player who supports his far-right presidential rival. ” It is obvious that Bolsonaro made a deal with the father (by Neymar). Now he has tax problems in Spain “, added Lula, referring to the favorable decisions that the player obtained in a case of tax evasion in Brazil, and at the trial in Barcelona for tax irregularities during his transfer to Barça in 2013. But “ it is a problem (who falls) from the tax collection agency, not mine “, concluded Lula in the interview.
Neymar in court in Spain
Claiming that he did not participate in the negotiations and signed what his father asked of him, Neymar denied on Tuesday October 18, before the Spanish courts, having committed any irregularity during his transfer from Santos to Barça in 2013. My dad always cared ” contract negotiations, “ I sign what he tells me “to sign, assured, during a brief hearing before a court in Barcelona, the Brazilian player, who will take the Seleçao from November 20 in Qatar.
This agreement is one of the subjects at the center of this trial, which opened on Monday October 17 in Spain and seeks to determine whether the Brazilian investment company DIS – holder of 40% of the player’s rights when he played Brazilian club Santos, before leaving for Barcelona – was defrauded during this operation. DIS, which brought the case to court in 2015, believes that it was wronged during the transfer and claims that Barça, Neymar and his family and then Santos, in a second step, joined forces to conceal the real amount of the operation. and “ scam him “.
The Brazilian company accuses them of not having informed it of the existence of the exclusive contract of 2011 which, according to it, distorted the transfer window by preventing other clubs from fighting to recruit Neymar. Barça initially estimated the cost of the transfer at 57.1 million euros (40 million for Neymar and his family and 17.1 for Santos), but Spanish justice estimates that it actually cost at least 83 million euros. euros. DIS, which received 6.8 million euros out of the 17.1 officially paid to the Brazilian club, is claiming 35 million euros, the amount it estimates to have lost in the case.
Rai’s support for Lula
Accusing the Brazilian striker of corruption, the prosecution demanded two years in prison and a fine of 10 million euros against him. Sentences of two years or less are not executed in Spain when the convicted person’s record is clean.
This trial has been nicknamed “Neymar 2”, “Neymar 1” designating the case of tax evasion deriving from this same transfer. It was concluded in 2016 by an agreement between the prosecution and Barça who had agreed to pay a fine of 5.5 million. Neymar and Barça also clashed in court but ended up signing an agreement in July 2021. amicably ending all their litigation.
While most footballers chose not to make the name of their favorite candidate public, Neymar threw his support behind Bolsonaro ahead of the first round.
This week, the former Brazilian footballer Rai, world champion with the Selection in the United States in 1994, supported Lula at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris. ” Thanks Rai, I looked ” the broadcast of the ceremony on Brazilian television, tweeted the former president, from 2003 to 2010. Former star of the Seleçao and PSG, Rai, the 1994 world champion, made the “L” sign, like Lula, with his fingers at the end of his speech, before presenting the Socrates prize to the Senegalese striker Sadio Mane.
(With AFP)