Leo Messi's lawyers announce they will appeal tax sentence

Leo Messi, through his company 'Leo Messi Management', has issued a statement in which he announces his intention to appeal the sentence of a 21 month suspended jail term for he and his father.

The appeal will be submitted to the Supreme Court. In the attached note, the intentions of the legal team for the Messis are stated:

After learning of the details of the judge's sentence, the lawyers for Lionel and Jorge Messi have advised that they consider that "the sentence is not correct. But it centres the debate in a way that seems clear to us that the appeal that will be lodged will be concluded in the defence team's favour."

In any case, in the opinion of the lawyers, "the sentence imposes an almost symbolic sanction (seven months for each tax crime), given that the quantity sought by the tax agency had already been paid."

The lawyers Enrique Bacigalupo and Javier Sanchez-Vara have stated that "most of the arguments in which the sentence centres the debate are precisely those that we are convinced should lead to the absolution (of the accused), therefore the appeal has a good chance of prospering."

The sentence expressly states there should have existed "a serious suspicion over the legality of the use of companies", and with this affirmation, there should not have been a punishment for an intentional crime. 

Along with this, it has not been taken into consideration that the companies used to make contracts, were not those of the player or his father. The appeal will be presented to the Supreme Court, which usually takes just short of a year to resolve. 

According to the lawyers, "the most recent decisions of the Supreme Court in matters relating to the case that occupies us, seem to side with the theses of the defence, and this will be mentioned in the appeal."

They also consider that "having paid the amounts that the tax agency said were owed to them, it was never understood why the agency itself was so obstinate in maintaining the accusations."  

The lawyers emphasise that both Lionel and Jorge "were conscious of their tax obligations and precisely for that reason they attended a specialist office dealing in tax for sporting figures", that already worked with other footballers and with FC Barcelona.

However they say "it is obvious that the tribunal felt they were not correctly advised". 

They are confident that the sentence following the appeal being heard will "show that Lionel behaved correctly at all times, just like his father", and that he even paid amounts to the public tax office "that he could have disputed, but were paid in full immediately as both the footballer and his father are exemplary citizens and Lionel, who is the public figure, not only shows that on the pitch, but off it too."