New Delhi: Days after ace footballer Lionel Messi shocked the sporting fraternity with his sudden retirement from the Argentinian team, a Spanish court today sentenced the Barcelona star to 21 months in jail, along with his father Jorge, in a case of tax fraud, Spanish media said today.
Messi and his father have been accused of defrauding Spain of over 4.1m Euros (Rs 33 crore approximately). Prosecutors alleged that Jorge avoided paying tax on his son's earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay in 2007-09.
They demanded a 22-month jail term for both Messi and his father.
Rejecting the accusations, Messi’s lawyer had said the player had "never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analysing" the contracts, media reported earlier.
“I didn’t know anything.I only worried about playing football,” Messi had told the court.
In June, the high court in Barcelona had ruled against Messi being granted immunity for not knowing what was happening with his finances, which were being managed in part by his father.
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.
Messi and his father made a voluntary €5m (Rs 37.5 crore approximately) "corrective payment" - equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest - in August 2013, the BBC reported.
However, in Spain, sentences of less than two years for first offences are suspended, meaning neither man will go to jail.
