Lionel Messi’s trial on charges of defrauding the Spanish tax payer of €4.1 million begins on Tuesday in Barcelona.
Prosecutors maintain that Barcelona and Argentina forward, Messi, and his father, Jorge, used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes totalling €4.1m on earnings from image rights between 2007 to 2009.
The prosecutors have called for 22-month jail sentences for both accused, but it is very unlikely that this will happen even should they be found guilty. Both deny any wrongdoing, and €5m has already been paid in arrears and extra charges.
Messi is not due to appear in court until day three of the trial on Thursday, June 2. Since the end of the club season, he has been in Argentina preparing for the upcoming Copa America Centenario in the United States.
The Albiceleste national captain picked up a back injury in a friendly against Honduras last Friday, but is expected to be able to travel back to Europe, and then quickly return to California ahead of the team’s opener against tournament holders Chile on June 7.
Both Lionel and Jorge Messi appeared in court previously in the Catalan town of Gava in September, 2013.
The player has said that he does not closely scrutinise his contracts and lets his father and advisors look after his financial affairs.
The Spanish revenue service (Fiscalia) initially accepted the 28-year-old’s version of events, however another sector of the government (Abogacia del Estado) decided to continue with the charges.
Other Barcelona players have also run into difficulties over their tax affairs. Javier Mascherano was reportedly fined heavily and received a one-year suspended sentence for fraud in January, 2016.
A long-running investigation into the structure of the €90m-plus transfer of Neymar from Santos to the Camp Nou outfit in summer 2013 has yet to be resolved.
