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Lionel Messi at a news conference in
Barcelona on Thursday
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Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel
Messi is to face trial for alleged tax evasion, a Spanish judge has ruled, BBC reports.
The judge rejected a prosecution
recommendation to drop the charges on the grounds the player's father was
responsible for his finances.
Messi and his father Jorge are
accused of defrauding the authorities of more than 4m euros (£3.1m; US$5m).
The pair, who deny wrongdoing, have
five days to appeal against the ruling.
It is alleged that they withheld the
money between 2007 and 2009.
The income related to Messi's image
rights, including contracts with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola,
Procter and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company.
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Messi and his father paid 5m euros
back to the Spanish tax authorities
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The footballer and his father are
suspected of avoiding paying Spanish tax by using companies in Belize and
Uruguay to sell the rights to use Messi's image.
The judge ruled: "In this type
of crime, it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the
accounting and business operations nor the exact quantity, rather it is
sufficient to be aware of the designs to commit fraud and consent to
them."
In August 2013 Messi and his father
made a 5m euro "corrective payment", equal to the alleged unpaid tax
plus interest.
Messi has been four times FIFA World
Player of the Year and is captain of Argentina.
The court decision comes as
Barcelona grapples with a separate prominent legal case.
A Madrid court is hearing a lawsuit
that accuses Barcelona of misappropriating funds from the transfer fee to buy
Brazil striker Neymar from Santos in 2013.
Club president Sandro Rosell quit in January,
but insisted he had "acted correctly" over the transfer.
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