World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi and his father have arrived in court to face charges of tax evasion.
The father and son, who both denied any wrong doing, are alleged to have hidden more than 4 milllion euros (£3.4m) by filing incomplete returns for the years 2006 to 2009. Messi’s father Jorge arrived first to face the charges.
They have already made a corrective payment in the tune of 5 million euros, to rectify the situation, to the Spanish authorities. The pair will be question in a closed session in Gava – the part of Barcelona where Messi lives.
According to the prosecutor’s office for tax crimes in Catalonia, income from the sale of Messi’s image rights was hidden using a complex web of shell companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and United Kingdom to avoid paying tax in Spain.
The income was connected to contracts with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Proctor and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company.
In a recent statement, the Barcelona star added:
‘I never take care of that (tax) stuff myself and neither does my father,’ Messi, 26, 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.’
Today’s hearing will decide whether or not the Spanish courts will pursue the case any further.