One of the world's most famous fooball stars, Argentinian Lionel Messi has been making the international headlines after he was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to jail time by a Spanish Court. IT's news here because Belize and 2 other countries are caught up with him in the mess.
As you may be aware, he's a super striker for the Spanish football club Barcelona, but the Spanish Government says that between 2007 and 2009, he defrauded them of more than 4 million Euros - or 4.42 million US dollars. The Spanish authorities say that he, and his father Jorge, didn't pay that amount in taxes on imaging rights earnings. He was found guilty on Wednesday. So, what does that have to do with Belize? Well, according to the prosecutors, he used this country, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, and Uruguay as tax shelters, deploying a complex web of offshore shell companies to hide those earnings from imaging rights. These were lucrative contracts with companies like Adidas, Pepsi, and Proctor & Gamble.
Messi's defence in the trial was that he knew nothing of his tax affairs, and that he was "only worrying about playing football". International press reports say that the judge who presided over the case was of the view that, quote, "[His] avoidable ignorance, which was derived from indifference, is not an error, and it does not remove responsibility."
Here a few press clips from the international media covering the trial and it's end:
For the conviction, Lionel Messi and his father were sentenced to 21 months in prison. He was additionally ordered to pay a fine of 1.7 million Euros, while his father was sentenced to pay a fine of 1.3 million Euros.
As you heard in those international news clips, it is customary in Spain that the sentence is suspended for first time offenders who are given less than 2 years for a jail term. That means that Messi will not be jailed in this instance.
Forbes reports that Messi and his father have announced their intent to appeal the conviction and sentences because they believe that the judgment is "incorrect".
