Barcelona star Lionel Messi to go on trial for tax evasion, judge rules

Lionel Messi is to face trial for alleged tax evasion, a court hearing has ruled. Spain’s public prosecutor argued in June that he should not go on trial himself on the grounds that the player’s father Jorge had taken complete control of his son’s finances, and that the Barcelona superstar himself had not been aware of what was going on. But the judge rejected those arguments as he ruled that the four-times Ballon d’Or winner should stand trial.

In this type of crime, it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the accounting and business operations nor the exact quantity, rather it is sufficient to be aware of the designs to commit fraud and consent to them.

A Spanish judge, who rejected an appeal filed by Messi’s lawyers to drop tax fraud charges against him

The judge said there could only ever be a “subjective opinion” on the extent to which Messi knew about what was happening with his finances. Messi has five days in which to appeal the decision. The charges, which the footballer and his father have consistently denied, related to alleged tax evasion to the tune of €4 million payable on image rights income between 2007 and 2009, during which time Messi had contracts with companies including Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Danone and Proctor and Gamble among others.

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