Barcelona made a document available to the club’s socios on Tuesday in relation to the pact agreed with the tax authorities regarding the signing of Neymar in 2013.

Ivan San Antonio

In the document, as first revealed by Manifest Blaugrana on their Twitter profile, the club admit responsibility for committing tax fraud.

The information contradicts what was said by Josep Maria Bartomeu in a press conference on June 13, when he used euphemisms such as “there have been errors in tax planning” when, in reality, the club have accepted that two crimes were committed against the tax authorities.

In the text which accompanies the judicial agreement made by the club, the commission of a crime is clearly established in reference to the contracts signed with the companies created by Neymar’s father in the following way: “The ultimate aim of the use of such companies was to pretend that payments were due for commercial transactions with them and, additionally, fragmenting the real cost of the player to keep it hidden.”

Among other claims which Barcelona took responsibility for in the pact it’s written that "such contracts and subsequent payments verified by the entity FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA, agreed and authorised by those who at that time were empowered to make decisions on [the club's] behalf, were primarily aimed at reducing the entity’s cost for the incorporation of the player.”

It has been proved, therefore, that at no time was it down to “errors in tax planning”, rather that the admission of tax fraud in the pact lends itself to the prosecution’s version, who argued that the contracts with Neymar’s father were simulated to conceal the true cost of the footballer.