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No Fear No Favour

Lionel Messi On The Faultlines: Spanish Supreme Court Imposes 21 Month Jail Sentence

The dark clouds for the Argentine origin forward position player Lionel Messi had started to form around him. Messi and his dad Jorge, who were battling with the judicial set-up in the country involving tax fraud, had been sentenced to 21 months of jail. The duo hired the best of lawyers and appealed in the Supreme Court against this jail sentence.It all happened between the year 2007 to 2009. Messi and his father defrauded the Spanish tax officials of £3.5m i.e. 29 crores, due to which even a huge fine was slapped on them.

It all happened between the year 2007 to 2009. Messi and his father defrauded the Spanish tax officials of £3.5m i.e. 29 crores, due to which even a huge fine was slapped on them.

The Argentine Supreme Court remained firm on the decision of 21 months jail sentence; however, his father’s sentence was reduced from 21 months to 15 months. Spanish laws are different and so, it’s unlikely that Messi will go to jail.

As per Spanish laws, a jail sentence under 2 years i.e. 24 months can be served under probation. This is only possible if the person has no criminal record before. In case of Messi and his father, the sentence can be reconsidered as they don’t have prior criminal records and their sentence is lesser than 2 years i.e. it’s just 21 months.

After the confirmation, Barcelona released a statement in support of Messi. It read,

“FC Barcelona gives all its support to Leo Messi and his father with relation to the sentence for tax evasion handed out by the Provincial Court in Barcelona. The club, in agreement with the government prosecution service, considers that the player, who has corrected his position with the Spanish Tax Office, is in no way criminally responsible with regards to the facts underlined in this case. FC Barcelona continues to be at the disposal of Leo Messi and his family to support him in whatever action he decides to take in defence of his honesty and his legal interests.”

Considering the judgment came, Argentina will have a hard time when their star player is absent in the next FIFA world cup which is scheduled for 2018.

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