Not so long after being pulled into the Negreira scandal, Barcelona have found themselves in yet another legal mess.
As reported by Mundo Deportivo, the Economic Crimes Prosecutor’s Office in Spain has started the investigation of the 2019 exchange deal between Barcelona and Valencia involving goalkeepers Jasper Cillessen and Neto.
The complicated transaction at the time insured €35 million in the Barcelona coffers for the sale of Cillessen. In the second transaction, Valencia received €26 million for the sale of Neto.
The point of contention behind the swap deal is that the two clubs had mutually agreed to help Valencia with the Financial Fair Play by tweaking the schematics of a traditional swap deal. In this case, Neto joined Barcelona on June 30, just before the 2019/20 fiscal year while Cillessen joined a day later, at the start of the 2019/20 fiscal year.
The Prosecutor’s Office is running an investigation on this transaction on the back of an official complaint from former Valencia vice-president Miguel Zorio. The complaint was filed in January, but the Prosecutor’s Office has decided to open a pre-trial investigation this month.
Zorio claims the swap deal was concluded between Barcelona and Valencia in order to cover or hide the losses of Valencia. The former vice-president has pointed his objection particularly to Peter Lim, the Singaporean businessman who owns Valencia.
Zorio has also filed a complaint against President Layhoon Chan, former president Amadio Salvo and popular agent Jorge Mendes as involved parties.
In his complaint letter, Zorio has pointed to possible corporate crimes, accounting forgery, unfair administration, corruption between individuals and corruption against public finances.
The letter from Prosecutor’s Office, meanwhile, has pointed out that there have been preliminary investigative proceedings against the case, but no judicial procedures have taken place so far. We can expect an update on this matter in the coming weeks.