January 21 – The tax trial of world player of the year Lionel Messi and his father has been set for May 31-June 3 but clashes with the start of the centennial Copa America taking place in the United States with the strong possibility that Argentina’s Barcelona star may not make it in time for his country’s opening game.
The world’s best-known and most talented footballer faces a possible jail sentence after a Spanish court ruled back in October that he and his father should stand trial on tax fraud charges, rejecting a request to drop the charges against the mercurial superstar.
Public prosecutors had asked for the case against Messi to be dropped as they considered the alleged fraud was carried out by his father, who has managed his son’s affairs since he was a child. But the judge in charge of the case rejected the request, writing in a court filing that “there are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties.”
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 may not 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. The trial is expected to be one of most high-profile off-the-field occasions in sport and will take place despite father and son making a voluntary €5 milllion “corrective payment” – equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest – when they were originally charged in June 2013.
This is expected to mitigate any sentence and even if convicted, it is unlikely either Messi or his father would spend time in jail as sentences of less than two years are usually suspended for first time offences in Spain.
Messi, who has scored 19 goals in 23 matches in all competitions this season, won the Ballon d’Or for the fifth time earlier this month.
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