Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi and his father will appear in court on Friday to face charges of tax fraud.
Messi and his father, Jorge, are accused of evading €4.2m (£3.4m) in tax on earnings made from endorsements from his principal sponsors – Adidas, PepsiCo and Proctor & Gamble – and a number of other companies.
The prosecution alleges that they set up shell companies in Uruguay and Belize to avoid paying tax in Spain. Both men deny the charges, saying the deals were done by Messi’s former agent without their knowledge. The alleged crimes took place between 2007 and 2009.
Messi, voted world player of the year four times, and his father will be questioned in a closed session in a court in Gava, Barcelona – the wealthy neighborhood in which Messi has a home.
The pair this year paid back €5m (£4.2m) to the Spanish state, but this has not prevented the prosecution; with the country in financial crisis, the government has cracked down on tax evasion. The hearing on Friday will determine whether the court will pursue them for alleged tax evasion.
