Lionel Messi will have to stand trial for tax fraud after the state lawyer representing Spain’s Inland Revenue successfully argued that both the player’s father Jorge Horracio and the player himself should be called to take the stand.
Messi’s father has always maintained his son plays no part in the management of his money but that will now be decided by a judge with Messi called to give evidence in a court case for which a date has still not been set.

The Messi’s have since cleared their tax debt which will reduce any subsequent sentence.
During the three years in question Messi signed contracts with Banc Sabadell, Telefonica, Danone, Air Europa, Adidas and Pepsi for the combined sum of €10m (£7.3m) but no tax in Spain was originally paid on them.

The appeal was over-turned in a statement that read: ‘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.’
Messi is not the only player in Spain currently being pursued over unpaid taxes. Javier Mascherano is being investigated for taxes paid for 2011 and 2012, and is due to appear in court on October 29. The Barcelona player has paid €1.5 million in back-taxes after allegedly failing to report earnings on image rights in 2011 and 2012. Spanish tax law allows a player to sell 15 per cent of his image rights to a third party company.

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