Messi defended

A Spanish state prosecutor filed a fraud complaint on Wednesday alleging Messi and his father Jorge avoided paying US$5,3 million in back taxes through illegal overseas tax havens.

‘’I am convinced that neither Leo nor his father have committed any infraction,’’ Laporta told Cope radio. ‘’The situation could be that they don’t have any responsibility in these events. There can be third parties who are responsible.

‘’I know them and they have always wanted to act within the law, and that’s how they acted with the club, at least when I was president.’’

In the complaint, state prosecutor Raquel Amado alleges that from 2006-09 Messi ‘’obtained significant revenue derived from the transfer to third parties of his image rights, income which should have been taxed.’’

Messi has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers issued a statement on Thursday saying that he ‘’has always punctually attended to his fiscal obligations.’’

Spain’s Sports Minister, Jose Wert, asked for ‘’patience’’ given the long legal process ahead.
‘’(The law) is the same for everyone,’’ he said. ‘’Even for the No. 1.’’

Current Barcelona president Sandro Rosell said on Thursday the club has no ‘’doubts about (Messi’s) innocence,’’ in a rare agreement with Laporta following the feud the two former colleagues have waged since Rosell left Laporta’s board in 2005.

‘’I have spoken with his family, and they are calm and we as a club are calm as well,’’ Rosell said. ‘’We are giving him all the support we can because we don’t have any doubts about his innocence.’’

Laporta said Messi and his family lacked the financial know-how necessary to have set up the network of shell companies and tax havens in countries including Belize and Uruguay described in the prosecutor’s complaint.

‘’They were always careful, let’s say even wary, when faced with these situations that were over their heads because they didn’t have the knowledge of a lawyer or a tax expert, and so they went out and got advisers,’’ he said.

The case was submitted at the court in Gava, near the Mediterranean coastal town where Messi lives. A judge at the court must accept the prosecutor’s complaint before charges can be brought against Messi and his father.

If found guilty and barring an out-of-court deal with the tax office, Messi and his father could face 2-6 years in jail, according to Sandalio Gomez, a sports finance analyst at the IESE Business School. — AFP.