Messi loses appeal, gets 21-month jail term

A Supreme Court in Spain on Wednesday upheld the decision last year of a Barcelona court that sentenced Barcelona forward and Argentine International, Lionel Messi, and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, to prison.

The footballer and his father who manages his finances were both convicted in 2016 for tax evasion.

Messi, a five-time world footballer of the year, and his father defrauded Spain of €4.1m (£3.5m; $4.6m) in taxes.

Under Spanish law, prison terms of under two years without prior offences can be served under probation.

According to the BBC, the case will now return to the court in Barcelona that handed down the original judgement.

During the court proceedings, the 29-year-old Barcelona forward insisted that he had little knowledge of his father’s financial affairs.

“I was dedicated to playing soccer. I trusted my father and the lawyers that we had chosen to deal with our affairs, at no time did I think they could deceive me”, he added.

Both men were convicted of three counts of fraud, for using tax havens in Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009, and were also given weighty fines.

They were found guilty of using fictitious companies to evade paying Spanish taxes on income that came from companies paying for the use of Lionel Messi’s image rights.

Jorge’s sentenced was subsequently reduced to 15 months by the Supreme Court after Messi returned the amount of money defrauded to the tax authorities.Source from Premium Times