The legitimacy of the most expensive transfer in football history has been called into question

The legitimacy of the most expensive transfer in football history has been called into question. French law enforcement agencies are investigating the circumstances surrounding the transfer of Brazilian forward Neymar from Barcelona to PSG in 2017, which cost the Parisian club €222 million. They suggest that the latter achieved unjustified tax benefits during its implementation thanks to the help of high-ranking officials, and in the list of the main persons involved The case turned out to be the current Minister of the Interior of France, Gerald Darmanin.

Among the main news related to football was the report of searches carried out on January 15 by employees of the French Central Office for Combating Corruption and Tax Fraud at the country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance in the Parisian district of Bercy. Representatives of the prosecutor’s office of the French capital confirmed Franceinfo, that they were part of an investigation “related to PSG and concerning, in particular, acts of corruption and active influence against a person holding public power.” The prosecutor’s office clarified that the alleged crimes are punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of €1 million or twice the proceeds of the offence.

It is well known what event is at the center of the investigation. In 2017 it shocked football market. Then PSG, which had been among the richest clubs for several years thanks to investments from the Qatari owners, blew up the transfer market with a huge deal.

For €222 million, PSG acquired the famous forward Neymar from Barcelona. This transfer still remains the highest cost in football history.

Neymar’s transfer last summer left from PSG to Saudi Arabia, to the Al-Hilal club, even then looked rather controversial. The fact is that formally (at least this was the official version of Barcelona) the player and his representatives themselves bought out the striker’s contract. Meanwhile, in the football world there was no doubt that the money actually came from PSG, and such a scheme was developed so that the Parisian club would avoid the inevitable problems with compliance with the financial fair play provisions of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in case of fixing space spending.

However, French law enforcement agencies are not interested in the club’s relationship with football structures and their regulations, but in taxes. All publications that covered the events in Bercy have no doubt that they were the cause of the emergency.

And Mediapart, which was the first to report about the searches, said that they were provoked by information that PSG, during the transfer, helped to avoid paying taxes “in the amount of tens of millions of euros.” Moreover, the publication even names a key figure among the “assistants.” According to him, the functions of a kind of “tax consultant” for PSG during the preparation of the deal were actually performed by the current Minister of the Interior of France, Gerald Darmanin. In 2017, he served as Minister of Public Funds, which is directly related to tax issues. According to Liberation and AFP, Gérald Darmanin assisted PSG along with former vice-president of the French National Assembly Hugues Renson, who ensured that tax breaks could be granted. This resulted in “significant” losses for the state budget.

Eric Cockrel, who currently holds the post of head of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, has already demanded that the government hand over to him documents relating to the transfer of Neymar.

In an interview with RMC Sport, Mr. Cockrel emphasized that, in his opinion, the incident could have serious consequences, including for French football, since the transfer of Neymar, if it was based on non-compliance with the law, “violated the competitive environment in the championship”: “Other clubs has the right to complain about this situation, because the youngest of them will never be able to take advantage of such benefits.”

Gérald Darmanin spoke out about the scandal on the same day it broke, while visiting the Olympic Village (where participants will live for the Olympics that Paris will host in the summer). True, he said nothing on the substance of the issue. Mr. Darmanen only noted that “I am happy that football or rugby players come to our country and pay a lot of taxes.” “If Neymar had not come to France, there would have been no taxes and no T-shirts with his name sold,” the minister added.

Alexey Dospehov