Superstar footballer to answer tax fraud allegations

The Guardian reports that a court in a town near Barcelona accepted a state prosecutor's complaint alleging that Argentinian footballer and his father defrauded the Spanish tax office of €4 million.

Mr Messi and his father are now scheduled to appear for questioning on 17 September as part of the investigation which will decide whether there are grounds to officially charge them with tax evasion.

Tax obligations

In the complaint made by prosecutor Raquel Amada last week, the pair were accused of not paying the correct taxes from revenue earned from image rights on income tax returns from the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Mr Messi – regarded as the best footballer in the world – said: ‘We are surprised about the news, because we have never committed any infringement… We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations, following the advice of our tax consultants, who will take care of clarifying this situation.’

Superstar footballer to answer tax fraud allegations

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