The most popular Argentina and Barcelona football player Lionel Messi is sentenced to 21 months jail term. Yes, you heard it right! But reason? Well, he has done a tax fraud.
Moreover he also has to pay a fine of 2 million Euros. Reports say that the football player was found guilty by 3 counts of tax fraud by a Spanish City court today. However, he wouldn’t be jailed because as per Spanish law, a prison sentence for a 1st time non-violent crime is allowed to be served under probation for 2 years.
Even his father Jorge was found guilty by the court and is handed the same jail sentence. His father too has to pay a fine of 1.5 million Euros.
Spanish tax office accused both the men of doing a tax fraud of 4.2 million Euros with the government between the years 2007-2009. It was found that the duo had used a web of shell companies for evading taxes on the income which is earned from the image rights of the player.
During the trial, Lionel Messi said that he didn’t have any idea of these dealings and all his financial affairs were controlled by his father. However, court didn’t agree to this and said that Messi can’t get over with the charges with such a small reason.
Now a statement by Barcelona local court says that they can appeal to the Supreme court. Already the father-son due have paid 5 million Euros to tax authorities when formal investigations had started. This amount was paid as a ‘corrective measure’. So all you Messi fans, what do you have to say about this? Do let us know your comments in our comments section below!
