Lionel Messi summoned to testify on alleged tax fraud

Posted Friday, June 21, 2013 by theguardian.com

Lionel Messi and his father Jorge have been summoned by a Spanish court for questioning as part of an investigation into tax fraud allegations.

A court in the town of Gava near Barcelona accepted a state prosecutor's complaint alleging that Messi and his father defrauded the Spanish tax office of €4m (£3.4m).

Messi and his father have been called to appear for questioning on 17 September. That will form part of an investigation to determine whether there exist grounds to officially charge them with tax evasion.

The court accepted the complaint lodged by prosecutor Raquel Amado on 12 June accusing the pair of not paying the correct taxes from revenue earned from image rights on Messi's income tax returns from the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

In a statement released via his Facebook page earlier this month, Messi said: "We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about the news, because we have never committed any infringement.

"We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations, following the advice of our tax consultants, who will take care of clarifying this situation."