Red Card: Messi, father to face tax fraud trial in Spain

Barcelona forward and Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi is due to stand trial in a tax fraud case, after he lost an appeal in the provincial high court of Barcelona.

Reports in The Guardian say, the court believes there are evidence that Messi, and his father Jorge Horacio Messi, knowingly or not, benefited from a complex network of companies who have managed to evade tax worth €4.1m (£3m) from Spanish authorities between 2007 and 2009.

Forbes also reported that according to the complaint filed in 2013, Messi’s father, Jorge, initiated a scheme using a series of shell companies in tax havens to shield royalties and other licensing income from Spanish income tax. Located in the tax havens of Belize and Uruguay, the scheme allegedly also includes an elaborate network of transfers through the UK and Switzerland.

In October last year, a court in Gava, near Barcelona, had ordered the 27 year old soccer sensation to face trials regardless of whether he knew anything about the alleged tax fraud. Messi had replied with an intention of appeal against this ruling.

Over the past one year, he has also made voluntary payments of nearly €5m to Spanish tax authorities, covering the alleged €4.1 of unpaid taxes, with interest. The Barcelona court however went on to maintain the Gava court’s decision, keeping Messi and his father remain under investigation for three counts of tax fraud.

While the court’s decision cannot be appealed against, there are still some possibilities for an out-of-court settlement.

As of now, one has to wait and see how these possibilities play out for the world’s fourth highest paid athlete (according to Forbes’ 2014 list).