Neymar cleared of tax evasion charges in Brazil

Bengaluru, July 26: Barcelona and Brazil star Neymar has been cleared of tax evasion charges, according to his father.

Neymar Sr said the decision, made in Brazil, proved there was 'justice in our country' and demanded that the 25-year-old player and his family be left in peace.

The forward was fined £50.7million last year for failing to properly report earnings on his contracts with former club Santos, Barcelona and his sponsorship deals between 2011 and 2014.

"It is with great joy the we received the news of the termination of proceedings regarding the complaint on tax evasion directed by the Federal Public Ministry," Neymar Sr said in a statement as reported by the Mail in UK.

"The proceeding is officially closed, thus it proves the lawfulness on every act we took. During four years of unfounded accusations me, my family and our employees suffered a lot and in every possible way. But albeit lots of people doubt, there's justice in our country.

"Accusation by accusation, one after the other, they were all defeated by our defence, leaving it clear that we did not evade not one penny in taxes. Now, I hope we can focus only in our jobs, and that me and my family can have the peace we deserve," he said.

With this distraction out of the way, Neymar can now concentrate on his future at Barcelona amid serious interest from Paris Saint-Germain in a deal that would shatter the world transfer record.

Cash-rich PSG would be prepared to pay £196m to trigger the release clause in Neymar's Barcelona contract and would offer wages of £500,000-a-week over a six-year contract. The deal would cost the French club as much as £450m in total.

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