The Spanish prosecution service believe the Barcelona attacker is not guilty of the fraud allegations but will continue to pursue his father
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is to set to have tax fraud charges against him dropped, but the Spanish judicial system will continue to push for a conviction for his father.
The 26-year-old had been hit with allegations in the past year which suggested he was guilty of tax avoidance to the sum of €4.1 million between 2006 and 2009.
Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, paid just over €5m to authorities after the Argentina international insisted he had no knowledge of the allegations and denied any wrongdoing.
A letter from the prosecution involved in the case seems to agree with Lionel’s stance but, although the Barca star is now out of the legal spotlight, his father remains under scrutiny.
“Lionel A. Messi was not involved in the decision-taking on the management and channelling of his income and did not really know the scope, size, purpose or effects of the corporate network,” the Europa Press reports the prosecution as stating.
“[However, his father had] full knowledge of the consequences for committing fraud with the Spanish Tax Agency.”
The letter also claims the four-time Ballon d’Or winner was just following orders from his father and that his signature on the documents was just “for the purpose of knowledge and ratification” regarding image rights.
It is alleged that Messi’s image rights were sold by Jorge – who assumed full responsibility when the case began – using companies in the likes of Belize and Uruguay to avoid Spanish tax obligations.