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Lionel Messi has received another major setback in a long-running tax fraud case against him and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi. A Spanish court confirmed that both Messi and his father will be brought under trial for tax fraud charges. The accusations against them are that both of them defrauded Spanish authorities of more than €4m (£3.1m; $5m)
As reported by AFP, the judge in charge of the case rejected the request of the public prosecutor to try only the footballer's father on Thursday. The decision means that Messi and his father, remain under investigation for three counts of tax fraud committed in the tax years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
According to El Pais, Messi senior is alleged to have created the network of companies when Messi was still a minor. It was used to simulate the handing over of the player’s image rights, thus allowing him to pay less tax on the multi-million-euro advertising contracts he landed. Messi’s defense team argued he “never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analyzing” the contracts. Instead, his father was primarily responsible for the player’s books.
Messi’s contracts with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company, have come under scrutiny. Messi and his father made a voluntary €5m "corrective payment", equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest, in August 2013.
Prosecutors want 22 months jail-time for Messi
Spanish newspaper AS reports that the prosecutors have recommended 22 months behind bars for the accused, if the charges are proved in court. The judge has made Messi’s presence in the courtroom mandatory, during the trial. Messi will sit in the accused dock next to his father. The state prosecutor considers Messi as partner in crime with his father, which is why he was not given any rebate by the judge.
The Argentine’s club Barcelona was also brought under audit due to supposedly sketchy transfer of Neymar in 2013. The club said it paid €57m for Neymar, 23, with his parents receiving €45m of the fee. But investigators alleged that the fee for Neymar's transfer from Brazilian team Santos was closer to €83m. As a result, Barcelona has not paid about €13m in tax, according to the prosecutors.
