Four-time FIFA footballer of the year Lionel
Messi and his father Jorge arrived in a Spanish
court this morning Friday September 27th to
answer charges of alleged tax fraud. Messi and
his father are being accused of hiding over £3.4
million by filing incomplete tax returns from
2006 to 2009.
The charges against father and son was lodged
by a state prosecutor in June 2013 claiming
that they tried to conceal earnings from Messi's
image rights - charges they both deny.
"I never take care of that (tax) stuff
myself and neither does my father," Messi
said in July. "We have our lawyers and
our wealth managers to take care of that
and we trust them and they will sort this
out. The truth is I don’t have a clue about
all this and that is why we have people
taking care of it."
Messi has already paid the Spanish authorities
the unpaid tax he's owing plus interest (he
paid £4.2m) but because tax fraud is a serious
offense in Spain, he still has to make an
appearance in court where the courts will
determine whether the case is pursued any
further. Hopefully it will all end today!
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