We have to say for Lionel Messi is one ingenious man. Who would have guessed that the best player in the world to be involved in such high-class tax evasion case from such an early age.
Lionel Messi sure likes to make the headlines. For the past two weeks, Messi is freaking everywhere; from his so-called international retirement after a loss in the Copa Final to his reconsideration of his decision and now this. Regarding the missed penalty I wonder why Messi and fans are making such a deal out of it! It was the final so what? Would you have done it better?
It seems even though Messi can afford to spend millions in a donation, he still needs to resort to tax evasion.
The Argentinian maestro was convicted along with his father Jorge Messi on three counts of tax evasion. However, this is not the first time Lionel has been subject to such charges. In 2013, Messi was charged with tax evasion when the father-son power duo used tax havens companies in Uruguay and Belize to evade €4.1 million tax from his income from sponsorship by big shots like Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Adidas between 2007 and 2009.
Lionel Messi arrives with his father Jorge Messi arrive at the court Source: edition.cnn.com
According to the sources, Jorge used tax havens to avoid paying taxes and royalties from Messi’s Spanish incomes. Messi has long since been minor and it seems his father perfectly passed on his legacy as a tax evader. It is a shame that despite being one of the highest paid athletes he had to resort to such thing which added criminal charges to his name.
After standing trial on May both Messi and Jorge were found guilty on July 6 by the courts in Barcelona. Both of them were sentenced to 21-month prison but it is highly unlikely that both of them will serve any jail time.
"I was playing football, I knew nothing," the Argentinian star said on his behalf also stating that he was only worried about playing football stating that he had done corrective payment years ago.
For your information, Barcelona issued a statement stating that he might not be criminally responsible for tax evasion.
When the statement was released, apart from Messi and his father being found guilty, it also stated that the Spanish supreme court could again plead for the sentence. The Spanish law states that ‘a tax prison sentence under two years could be served under probation’. Hence Messi and his father Jorge might not go to jail.
Messi given 21 months in jail for tax fraud, but won't actually go to prison. Tax frauds the world over will be looking to move to Spain.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 6, 2016
Regardless of whether he will be sentenced to prison time or not, it is yet to be decided if he would be banned from playing for now. Not to mention, with the World Cup 2018 qualification on the way, will all those petition and requests and urges all be in vain?
According to the sources, the weekly income for Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is around £575,000 that is $30 million annually. Since the tax imposed in around 52% in Spain for sports that’s a lot of tax. Still, there are no charges against him for any tax evasion nor the majority of other players. It really shocked the world when the idol for millions of people was convicted of tax evasion. Still, there are fans who support him and believe that he is not wrong.
Now that his image has been slightly altered, there is no saying for sure that he will have the same number of fans that he had. La Liga will start shortly and we are all excited how things would turn out for him. Will he be the same Lionel Messi who fans love and haters hate? While his prosecutor Maradona ended his football life after drug use charge in 1994 World Cup, will this be Messi's end?