Jail time looms for Lionel Messi’s dad
MESSI AFFAIR: Lionel Messi, front, and his father Jorge leave court yesterday after their trial SPANISH prosecutors have called for Lionel Messi to be absolved and his father found guilty on the final day of the pair’s high-profile tax fraud trial in Barcelona.
The Argentina star and his father Jorge Horacio Messi have been accused of using companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on à4.16-million of Messi’s income earned from his image rights from 2007 until 2009.
Barcelona forward Messi’s defence lawyers want both the five-time World Player of the Year and his father to be absolved.
But the state attorney — who in Spain intervenes in trials in parallel with prosecutors when the interests of a public organisation have been affected, in this case the tax authorities, wants both sentenced.
“Lionel Andres Messi must be absolved,” prosecutor Raquel Amado said in her closing argument, a day after the footballer took the stand and said he trusted his father with his finances and “knew nothing” about how his wealth was managed.
“There is no evidence that anyone explained anything to him.”
But Amado maintained her accusation against Messi senior, for whom she asked for a jail sentence of oneand-a-half years.
Any such sentence would likely be suspended as is common in Spain for first offences carrying a sentence of less than two years.
“It’s because Jorge Messi accepted it that this happened,” she said.
The income related to Messi’s image rights that was allegedly hidden includes endorsement deals with Banco Sabadell, Danone, adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and the Kuwait Food Company.
“These contracts are in English, most certainly bulky,” Amado argued.
“For a layperson, if they see so many lawyers signing it, they must believe that it’s fine.”
The companies in Uruguay — which much of the probe centres on — were created and managed by a Barcelona law firm with whom Messi’s father communicated.
No date has been set for when the court will issue its ruling. — AFP