Lionel Messi denies knowledge of tax issues in fraud trial

Footballer Lionel Messi has denied having knowledge of the tax issues that led to fraud charges against him.

Barcelona's football star Lionel Messi facing judges in a tax fraud case at a courthouse in Barcelona. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

The Barcelona footballer told a court he signed documents without reading them because he trusted his father – who managed his finances – and the advisers responsible for his finances.

“I didn’t know anything,” Messi said while giving evidence in his tax fraud trial. “I only worried about playing football.”

Wearing a dark suit and tie, Messi sat alongside his father in front of the judge and listened to other evidence for nearly four hours before being called in the third day of the trial.

The Argentine player looked impatient in court at times, looking down and trying to stretch his legs.

Speaking for less than 15 minutes, he said he never suspected of any wrongdoing when his father would ask him to sign contracts or documents.

“I signed what he told me to sign because I trusted my father,” Messi said.

“I trusted my father, and the lawyers said that I could [sign the documents].”

He said he did not know that part of his income was going through companies created in countries such as Uruguay, Switzerland and Belize, which authorities alleged was done to lower the player’s tax burden in Spain.

“The only thing I knew is that we signed deals with different sponsors and they paid for me to do advertisements, photos and things like that,” Messi said.

“But I didn’t know how this money arrived or where it was going.”

Messi’s father, Jorge Horacio Messi, had reiterated in his evidence that his son did not know the details of his contracts or the structures created in other countries to handle his income from image rights.

“I didn’t think it was necessary to inform him of everything,” Messi’s father said.

Messi and his father are facing three counts of tax fraud and could be sentenced to nearly two years in prison if found guilty of defrauding Spain’s tax authority of €4.1 million (£3.1m) between 2007 and 2009.

They are not likely to face any jail time but could be fined and made to forfeit possible future tax benefits.

Both deny wrongdoing, and the money owed was already paid back.

The trial is expected to end today and the verdict and sentencing are expected next week.

Hundreds of journalists and a few onlookers were in front of the Barcelona court house when Messi and his father arrived for the hearing yesterday.