By Mark Baber
June 12 – Often regarded as the greatest player of his generation, Lionel Messi now faces trial on charges that, between 2007 and 2009 he benefitted from a complex network of companies set up by his father to keep €4.1m in taxes from the Spanish authorities.
Messi’s legal team have saw their latest appeal thrown out by a Barcelona court on Wednesday, meaning the player will now almost inevitably face trial along with his father, on tax fraud charges, despite having paid over the amount believed to have been avoided in hopes of averting further action.
Messia’s father, Jorge Horacio Messi, stands accused of using shell companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the UK to sell the footballer’s image rights to companies such as Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company in order to avoid reporting earnings in Spain. The scheme allegedly began when Messi was a minor and both Messi and his father have denied any wrongdoing.
The latest appeal hinged on Lionel Messi’s contention that he was wholly ignorant of what was being done in his name, a contention supported by his father who told Spanish media “I have always said it, he had absolutely nothing to do with it, so there is no need to talk about it. My lawyers are dealing with this issue so it’s something with me and has nothing to do with him.”
On Wednesday the court ruled that despite Lionel Messi’s defence arguing he had “never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analysing” the contracts, the question of whether or not this was the case should be dealt with at trial, particularly as Messi had ratified the contracts signed by his father when he turned eighteen and was listed as the sole administrator of one of the companies involved.
Wednesday’s ruling resulted from an appeal against a similar decision at a lower level and is not subject to appeal bringing Messi a significant step closer to trial for tax fraud, just as PFA chief Gordon Taylor argues players should take over governance of the game saying, “The time is here to clean out the corruption and to place ourselves at the top table as guardians of the game,” claiming “Our record is one of transparency not opaqueness, accountability not of obfuscation.”