Messi still under investigation for tax fraud

The Argentine and his father have paid around €5 million to authorities
in Spain, but a judge revealed on Monday that the charges haven't been
dropped and that the case continues
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is still under investigation for tax
fraud, a judge in Catalunya revealed on Monday.
The Argentine has already appeared in court to answer claims of alleged
tax evasion to the tune of €4.1 million between 2006 and 2009 and has
long declared his innocence.
Nevertheless, the player and his father Jorge Messi paid just over €5m
to authorities last year and it had looked as if the case would be closed .
But the judge in Gava, a seaside town just outside Barcelona where
Messi owns a property, has decided to proceed with the case against the
four-time Ballon d'Or winner and his father.
Messi has claimed he left all his business interests to his father and his
management team. "Lionel A. Messi was not involved in the decision-
making on the management and channelling of his income and did not
really know the scope, size, purpose or effects of the corporate
network," said a statement for the prosecution earlier this year.
But a new written statement by the judge said on Monday that "there
is sufficient evidence" that Messi "could have known about and
consented to the creation and maintaining of a fictitious financial
structure".
The judge also added that because the player's signature is on all of
the documents being investigated, the 26-year-old "could have warned
about the intervention of others in these cases or read some of these
contracts, even if it was only the headers".
It is alleged that Messi's image rights were sold by Jorge - who
assumed full responsibility when the case began - using companies in
countries like Belize and Uruguay to avoid Spanish tax obligations.