Barcelona star Lionel Messi says he had no knowledge of his financial affairs and was only concerned with playing football, as his trial for alleged tax evasion continued on Thursday. The FC Barcelona star, who was accompanied by his father Jorge and brother, arrived by vehicle driven by an employee from the Catalan club amid great media interest, reports Efe. “The final supervision was done by the client, in this case, Jorge Messi”. Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio, have been charged with three counts of tax fr.
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“I didn’t know anything”, Messi said.
Because of the trial, the Barcelona player has missed part of Argentina’s preparations for the Copa America, which starts Friday in the United States.
“I never asked my dad about these things”, Messi is quoted as telling the court by AS. “He is my father and it obviously never crossed my mind that he would fool me or disappoint me so I signed because he told me to, because I trusted him, and as I said before, the lawyers told us to do it that way”, he also said.
Lionel Messi has denied any knowledge of his alleged attempts to avoid tax payments when he signed contracts related to image rights. ‘I devoted myself to playing football’. “But I didn’t know how this money arrived or where it was going”.
According to the Argentine striker he doesn’t even read his contracts before signing them because he trusted his father and his lawyers to make the right decisions regarding his finances. Like we earlier said, we wish him all the best. Officials said that although Messi was mostly unfamiliar with tax issues, there was sufficient evidence to believe he could have known and consented to the creation of a fictitious corporate structure to avoid paying some of his taxes in Spain.
Tuesday’s hearing showed that Spain’s tax office made 20 inspections on Messi during its two-year investigation.
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The Spanish tax agency is demanding heavy fines and prison sentences. Neymar, Javier Mascherano, Adriano and Xabi Alonso also were targeted by Spanish tax authorities recently.
