PSG superstar Neymar fined £900,000 for tax evasion after the Brazilian diverted his income into image-rights companies
Former Barcelona forward has had £46m in assets blocked for the past two years and still faces corruption allegations over his move from Santos to Barcelona in 2013
NEYMAR has been fined £900,000 for tax evasion - after diverting his earnings into image-rights companies to reduce his own payments.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar had around £46million in assets seized by Brazilian authorities two years ago while the case was being settled.
Prosecutors said the Brazil striker escaped paying the proper level of tax by putting much of his income into three family-run companies.
Now a federal court has ordered the former Barcelona hero to pay €1m - about £900k.
Judge Carlos Muta said Neymar's conduct in the case "violates the dignity of justice" and accused him of delaying tactics that "embarrass" the process.
The court told Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo that the fine had yet to be paid but Neymar's legal team had not appealed against it.
Neymar, 25, still faces corruption allegations over his move from Brazilian giants Santos to Barcelona in 2013.
But he might be happy with the outcome of today's case because his reported annual wages at PSG of £32m dwarf the five-figure fine.
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The taxman had initially blocked €536m - about £481m - of Neymar's assets in September 2015. But that was later corrected to just over £46m.
The goods seized included property belonging to Neymar and his family in Santos, as well as a plane and a yacht.
Neymar, though has never let the legal cases affect his form - as shown by a clever free-kick during PSG's 4-0 win at Anderlecht in a Champions League group game on Wednesday.
And in fact his contract with PSG is designed to avoid further trouble over taxes because it reportedly covers salary only, rather than any image-rights payments.
But Neymar was clearly focused on past lessons learnt on the field rather than off it when he explained his special goal in Belgium came from watching Brazilian legend Ronaldinho.
He said: "Ronaldinho should be happy, I always learn from the best.
"Ronaldinho was very intelligent in any moment of the game.
"However in the match I didn't think of him.
"Later I realised that my free-kick was very similar to one he took, almost the same. I was going to kick it over the wall but later I decided to change."
Neymar also revealed he is keen to be a mentor for PSG'S 18-year-old frontman Kylian Mbappe - in the same way Argentina hero Lionel Messi helped him at Barcelona.
Neymar said of Frenchman Mbappe: "He's a golden child, who is at a great level.
"He's a great player, he has all the qualities to convert into a big name into the football world.
"I'm a big fan of his and I want to help him in every way possible. I hope to do the same for him that Messi did for me."
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