Lionel Messi has testified in court that he relied upon his father and lawyers to take care of his financial matters.Messi and his father Jorge, the two accused in the trial for tax fraud, spoke to the court on Thursday.I didn’t know anything,” he told the courtroom, “I was focussed on playing football and didn’t have any idea.”I trusted my father and the lawyers.”The player went on to tell the court that his father and his lawyers had never explained anything to him, while he admitted he had never asked.”[I] signed where they told me to,” he added.”I trusted in my father and never thought he could deceive me.”These matters never interested me, which is why I was unaware I was breaking the law.”
Jorge Messi also spoke to the courtroom and declared his and his son’s innocence.”I understand these laws as much as I understand Chinese,” he explained.”I didn’t have any knowledge of the laws and simply said yes or no to the proposals presented to me.”My intention was to make life easier for my son, to accompany him and to allow him to focus on football.
“Eventually, we needed legal and accounting help.”After three and a half hours of technical explanations by experts from the Spanish tax authorities, Messi and his father made the case that they were unaware of the crime they are charged with.Their principal argument was that they delegated responsibility to the Juarez & Associates law firm and to their former business partner Rodolfo Schinocca.
The Barcelona star, who used his right not to respond to the state attorney, argued that he was too focussed on football to be aware of any wrongdoing.
Jorge Messi also acknowledged that he had set up a number of companies, but denied doing so for tax evasion purposes.Blame was attributed to Schinocca, a former partner of Jorge Messi’s, and to the family’s law firm.”Schinocca made the first contracts,” Jorge Messi told the court.He then explained that all legal matters were the responsibility of Juarez & Associates.
If a sponsor was interested,” he continued, “then they would speak to me. If we reached an agreement then their legal team would work with our legal team at Juarez & Associates and they would close the deal.”According to Jorge Messi, his son had no knowledge of the companies that had been set up.”He didn’t read the contracts,” Jorge Messi explained.An example of a deal with Adidas was given.
They needed his signature, he went and he signed, but he didn’t read anything, nor did anyone there explain anything to him.”Jorge Messi finished by reaffirming his belief that the dealings were above board.”I was told that everything done was legal,” he stated.”I knew that there was a complex structure, but I didn’t know which companies there were, nor what each did.”The trial will resume on Friday for sentencing.
