The younger Messi, wearing a dark suit and tie during a 15-minute appearance on the stand, rejected that argument.
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Messi and his defence team have long argued that Messi’s father handled the footballer’s finances without reporting to him, and the striker was not aware of any wrongdoing.
Inigo de Loyola Juarez, another partner and Juarez’s brother, added: “I don’t know if any of my correspondence has been included in the case, but they will see that Lionel Messi does not appear in any of it”. “I told him he had to sign off on something [in 2006], a contract, and we went to a public office”, the elder Messi said.
They said that although the Argentina forward signed documents, it was his father who was actually responsible for the player’s businesses off the field.
The 28-year-old, among the world’s highest-earning athletes, is under suspicion of creating a string of fake companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid taxation on €4.16m (£3.2m) of image rights earnings in that period of time.
“The only thing I knew is that we signed deals with different sponsors and they paid for me to do advertisements, photos and things like that”. “But I didn’t know how this money arrived or where it was going”.
Jorge Messi repeatedly told the court his son “knew nothing about it”.
“I didn’t know anything”, Messi said, according to The Associated Press.
“I never asked my dad about these things”, Messi is quoted as telling the court by AS.
Messi’s lawyer said he was satisfied with his client’s testimony.
It is unlikely they will face any jail time, although they could be fined and have to forfeit any possible tax benefits in the near future. However, a verdict is not expected until next week.
Hundreds of journalists and a few onlookers were in front of the Barcelona court house when Messi and his father arrived.
One shouted: “Piss off and play in Panama, you b******”!
When the player left the court house, many fans applauded.
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The five-time FIFA Ballon d’Or victor – who was both cheered and heckled by a crowd outside the Barcelona court – has been forced to miss some of Argentina’s preparations for the 2016 Copa America which gets under way on Friday.
