"What they say about Leo and his father is barbarous"

Posted Saturday, December 21, 2013 by Marca.com

What do Lionel and Jorge Messi have to do with the charity friendly games that are being investigated? Are they involved in the arranging of said games? What part did the Barca superstar play in these games? These are the questions that Argentine businessman Guillermo Marín has answered in an interview with MARCA.

"Neither Leo nor his father have anything to do with it. Here there was a Colombian company called Total Conciertos that got in touch with me because it wanted to arrange a series of friendly games. The organisation of the games, as well as the ticket sales, the sponsors, TV... It was all left to local promoters, as it always is. Neither we (Imagen Deportiva S.A.) nor the players that took part, nor Leo, and much less his father, had anything to do with the game's exploitation. That is quite clear, as in fact we are not presently involved in any legal proceedings or anything of the sort. If the Justice System is investigating Colombian promoters, it's something IZm unaware of", Marín assured.

For the last five years, Lionel Messi has taken part in charity games in various places in America, as he did this last summer. Precisely, the friendly games celebrated in Colombia (Bogota and Medellín) in 2012 are ones suspected of having been arranged and exploited by a drug-trafficking network that organised various shows and sports events.