Abb Takk News
News Ticker Sports

Spain: SC upholds 21-month sentence for Messi

Madrid (May 24, 2017): The Supreme Court of Spain upheld a 21-month suspended prison sentence for Barcelona star Lionel Messi in his appeal over three counts of tax fraud, a judicial source confirmed.

Messi and his father Jorge, who manages his finances, were both convicted in 2016 of defrauding Spain of €4.1m (£3.5m; $4.6m) in taxes.

Jorge Messi’s jail term was reduced because he paid some of the taxes. Prosecutors in last year’s case judged that Messi and his father had used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay as well as shell companies in the U.K. and Switzerland to avoid paying taxes totaling €4.1 million on earnings from image rights between 2007 and 2009.

In Spain, prison terms of under two years can be served under probation. The case will now return to the court in Barcelona that handed down the original judgement.

Messi and his father were first sentenced on July 6 but appealed, with prosecutors eventually asking the Spanish Supreme Court to review the sentences last month.

The five-time World Player of the Year was also ordered to pay a fine of around €2m at the time, while his father was fined €1.5m.

When news of the investigation first broke in the summer of 2013, Jorge Messi, acting on behalf of the Messis, was reported to have paid over €5m in arrears and extra charges — he is also believed to have paid €10m in taxes due on the image rights income for 2010 and 2011. Those actions are behind the six-month reduction in his sentence.

Messi said during last year’s trial that he signed many documents when he was younger without reading their contents and had visited a notary’s office to set up a company to handle his finances without understanding what was going on.

But Mario Maza, the state attorney representing the tax authorities at the trial, said he found it unlikely that Messi knew nothing about the situation.

Lionel Messi, a five-time world footballer of the year, has always denied any involvement and told his trial in June 2016 that “I only worried about playing football.”

Both men were convicted of three counts of fraud, for using tax havens in Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009, and were also given weighty fines.

They were found guilty of using fictitious companies to evade paying Spanish taxes on income that came from companies paying for the use of Lionel Messi’s image rights.

Jorge Messi’s jail term was reduced from 21 months to 15 by the Supreme Court to take into account the money he had since handed to the tax authorities.

Messi is currently in talks about a contract renewal with Barcelona. His current contract is due to expire at the end of next season.

Barcelona have told ESPN FC they are confident he will sign a contract extension, and Spanish radio reported on Tuesday that a new deal will be signed at the beginning of next season so that the money is used as part of next year’s budget.