October 9 – The world’s best-known and most talented footballer faces a possible jail sentence after a Spanish court ruled that Argentine and Barcelona striker Lionel Messi and his father should stand trial on tax fraud charges, rejecting a request by prosecutors to drop the charges against the mercurial superstar.
Messi and his father Jorge are accused of defrauding the tax authorities of more than €4 million. They deny any wrongdoing but lawyers acting on behalf of the authorities have demanded 22-month jail sentences for both though it is not believed it will get that far.
It is alleged that Jorge avoided paying tax on his son’s earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay in 2007-09. “There are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties,” wrote the judge in a court filing, according to AFP.
No date has been set for the trial of the four-time World Player of the Year but it threatens to be one of most high-profile off-the-field occasions in sport and will take place despite Messi and his father making a voluntary €5 milllion “corrective payment” – equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest – when they were originally charged in June 2013.
The company that controls Messi’s image rights, Leo Messi Management SLU, issued a statement which said Messi’s defence team would present evidence in court “in coming weeks” that would show the state prosecutor’s stance was the correct one and not that of the state attorney.
The Barcelona forward had a bad spell in the aftermath of the news originally breaking and the subsequent investigation. Currently, the 28-year-old is out with a knee injury which will force him to miss crucial World Cup qualifiers with Argentina and domestic and European matches with Barca.
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