Lionel Messi tax fraud investigation dropped in Barcelona

Posted Tuesday, December 15, 2015 by skysports.com

Lionel Messi tax fraud investigation dropped in Barcelona
Lionel Messi was alleged to have received payments for participating in a series of charity matches

A Spanish court has dropped a tax fraud investigation into Lionel Messi and his foundation linked to six friendly matches.

The court in Barcelona said on Monday it was satisfied neither the player nor the Lionel Messi Foundation were involved in trying to defraud Spain's tax office in this instance.

An investigation looked into possible tax offences around a series of games played over a 13-month period from June 2012 to July 2013.

The fixtures were played in the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Peru with the allegation being that Messi received payment for participating.

A statement said a judge had taken testimony from the organiser of the matches, businessman Guillermo Javier Marin.

It went on to say Marin had presented the judge with a "coherent explanation" relating to wire transfers totalling $1.37m dollars.

This is one of three cases of unpaid taxes that Messi has had to face and he remains under investigation for alleged tax fraud in a separate case covering a spell from 2007 to 2009.