Barcelona star Lionel Messi to face trial over alleged £3.2million tax fraud

Money trouble: Lionel Messi and his brother Rodrigo arrive at the court for an earlier hearing in July

 

Argentina ace Lionel Messi must stand trial over £3.2million tax fraud charges and could be jailed for six years if found guilty.

An investigating magistrate today ruled the Barcelona star, 27, will be tried over three counts of tax evasion.

The footballer’s father Jorge, who is his agent, also faces trial over the alleged offences between 2007 and 2009.

Prosecutors had agreed to drop the charges against Messi after his father paid the court £3.9million in a bid to settle the dispute with the Spanish taxman.

They agreed Jorge was in charge of the finances and said only he should stand trial.

But the Spanish Treasury refused to drop the case and today a magistrate in Gava, near Barcelona, ruled in their favour and ordered the footballer to stand trial.

The four-time Fifa World Footballer of the Year is accused of failing to pay tax on earnings from image rights. The magistrate ruled that it was possible Messi “may have known about and consented to the evasion of tax”.

And he said the footballer must stand trial “if there are indications that Lionel Messi may have known and consented to the evasion.”

The judge said “it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the accounting and business operations” to be accused of tax evasion

He's the daddy: Jorge Horacio Messi

Messi gave evidence at the court of investigation in September last year and denied any knowledge of tax evasion, telling the magistrate: “My dad deals with all the money.”

He is alleged to have failed to pay income tax on £7.9million worth of earnings from image rights. Messi earns millions of pounds a year from deals with the likes of Adidas, Pepsi and Proctor and Gamble.

Reports in Spain said the earnings had passed through shell companies in tax havens including Belize and Uruguay so as not to alert the Spanish taxman.

Messi has always insisted he has done nothing wrong since the case broke last year.

In July, 2013 he said: “I’m not worried, I’m always on the sidelines of all of that, just like my dad. We have our lawyers and advisers who handle these things.”

Tax evasion of more than £470,000 can be punished by up to six years in prison in Spain. However, most cases are dealt with by fines of up to six times the amount of tax dodged – which in Messi’s case could mean a fine of up to £19.2million.

Experts say prison is only usually used in serious cases involving criminal plots.

Messi is reported to earn £22.1million a year from Barcelona, of pays around £12.3million in income tax.

He joined Barcelona when he was 13 and is the club’s all-time top goalscorer.

Messi and his father have five days to appeal against the judge’s ruling.