Messi to stand trial for tax fraud in Spain

Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi and his father are to stand trial on tax fraud charges, a court in Spain has ruled.

The BBC reports that the judge in charge of the case rejected the request by prosecutors to drop the charges against the striker.

Messi and his father Jorge are accused of defrauding Spain of more than €4million, but they deny any wrongdoing. However lawyers acting on behalf of the tax authorities demanded 22-month jail sentences for both defendants.

Prosecutors allege that Jorge avoided paying tax on his son's earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009.

El Pais newspaper reported that Messi's lawyers had argued that the player had "never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analysing" the contracts.

"There are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties," wrote the judge in a court filing, according to the AFP news agency.

No date has been set for the trial of the 28-year-old footballer  who is also the four-time World Player of the Year and one of the richest athletes in the world.

In June, the high court in Barcelona ruled that Messi should not be granted impunity 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 "corrective payment" - equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest - in August 2013.