July,6,2016:
Sentence imposed can be appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court.
Barcelona Court while holding Lionel Messi guilty for three counts of tax fraud sentenced him to 21 months in prison a on Wednesday. Lionel Messi’s father, Jorge, has also sentenced to 21 months in prison by the Court on the same charges. The Sentence imposed can be appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court.But under the Spanish Law a sentence of prison of less than two years can be served under probation, which means that Messi and his father are unlikely to go to jail.
The Barcelona Court has also directed Messi to pay around 2 million Euros ($2.21 million) as fine and his father has to pay 1.5 million Euros for the crimes.
Lionel Messi and Jorge Horacio Messi have been accused by the Spanish Tax Office for defrauding the Spanish Government of amount of 4.2 million euros ($4.7 million) between the period of 2007 and 2009. But Messi has maintained that he was not aware about the alleged tax evasion scheme when he signed the contracts related to the image rights.
Messi who is a five-time World Player of the Year had admitted during the trial to the signing of contracts to protect his image rights but explained that he had no knowledge that he was getting involved in any act of defrauding the Spanish State.
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