The Prosecutor presents case against Messi and his father for allegedly defrauding four million euros

Last update 12 June, 2013 by Julio Muñoz

Bad times run in Can Barça. The Barcelona Economic Crimes Prosecutor's Office has today filed a complaint against FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, whom he accuses of three crimes against the Public Treasury for having allegedly defrauded more than 4 million euros in their personal income tax returns 2007, 2008 y 2009.

The complaint, signed by prosecutor Raquel Amado and to which Efe has had access, has been filed in the investigative court acting as guard of Gavá (Barcelona), where the Barcelona striker resides.

According to the prosecutor's account, “in order to evade taxation”, the transfer of his image rights was simulated “to purely instrumental companies located in tax havens (Belice, Uruguay) y, complementary, license contracts were formalized, agency or provision of services between those companies and other instrumental companies domiciled in jurisdictions of convenience (UK, Swiss)”.

For the public ministry, It was found during the investigation that “The initiative to defraud came from Jorge Messi”, the player's father and representative, since it was this one who in 2005, when the Barça forward was still a minor, commissioned a third party to create a first instrumental company, which would later be replaced by another, for the sole purpose of evading taxes.

With it, the prosecutor's complaint continues, was wanted “that the income would transit from the countries where the paying companies or entities were located to the instrumental companies domiciled in tax havens without being practically subject to any taxation and, besides, with total opacity before the Spanish Public Treasury of the ownership of the real recipient and beneficiary of the income, which was none other than the defendant Lionel Messi”.

On the other hand, adds the complaint, “Certain relevant data were omitted from other tax returns in order to prevent the Tax Administration from being aware of the transfer of rights to companies residing abroad.”.

The Prosecutor's Office details the amount of the personal income tax contributions allegedly defrauded and which amount to 1.059.398,71 euros in the year 2007, 1.572.183,38 euros in 2008 y 1.533.092,87 euros in 2009. In total, 4.164.674,96 euros allegedly defrauded by the footballer and corresponding to his image rights.

The complaint, which must now be admitted for processing by the corresponding court, accuses Lionel Messi and his father of three crimes against the Public Treasury, regulated in the article 305 the Penal Code.

The law provides for a prison sentence of two to six years and a fine of double to six times the amount defrauded when the amount of said fraud exceeds six hundred thousand euros., circumstance that would supposedly occur in the case of the Argentine star.