Spanish football champions Barcelona said Monday it would make a voluntary tax payment of 13.5 million euros over the club's signing of Brazilian star striker Neymar but denied tax fraud.
Judge Pablo Ruz at Madrid’s National Court indicted the Catalan giants on Thursday after seeing “sufficient evidence to investigate a possible crime against the public treasury” over the 86-million-euro ($118-million) transfer of Neymar from Brazilian club Santos.
He sought to establish whether or not Neymar, who joined Barcelona in May 2013, was counted as a taxpayer in Spain or his native Brazil that year.
Barcelona, currently trailing Real Madrid in Primera Liga by three points, said the club would still "present a legal defence in the case opened against it" and assured fans it has "always acted within the law."
The payment was made to “cover any potential interpretation made concerning the contracts signed in the transfer process for Neymar,” the club stressed.
Nevertheless, they strongly denied any wrongdoing, insisting: “We remain convinced that the original tax payment was in line with our fiscal obligations.”
State prosecutors have alleged that Barcelona owe the taxman nine million euros.
Including the potential fine, this brought the total to the paid-out 13.5 million euros.
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The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
