Lionel and Jorge Horacio Messi are accused by the Spanish tax office of defrauding the government of 4.2 million euros ($4.7 million) between 2007 and 2009. Tuesday's hearing showed that Spain's tax office made 20 inspections of Messi during its three-year investigation. Messi and his father paid five million euros to the tax authorities as a "corrective" measure after being formally investigated in June 2013. Spain's tax office has also begun investigating the finances of Messi's Barcelona team-mates Neymar Jr, Javier Mascherano and Adriano. Soccer's five-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messiarrived at a court in Barcelona on Thursday to testify against charges of tax evasion.

Source: The Star June 02, 2016 09:33 UTC