Prosecutors say Lionel Messi shouldn't stand trial for tax fraud

The Prosecutor's Office in Barcelona has decided to charge Lionel Messi with tax fraud, but the FC Barcelona player will not have to stand trial for the allegations, which are in relation to his image rights -- his father, Jorge Messi, will instead. 

It is good news for the player who has been fighting the allegations for two years in relation to charges of tax fraud in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. 

In the written indictment, filed at a court in Gava (Barcelona), the prosecutors exonerate Messi of the tax fraud that he was inititally accused of, despite the fact he had still stood accused after his father, Jorge, had taken full responsibility. 

However, the Prosecutor's Office has asked for an 18-month prison sentence and a fine of two million euros for Jorge Messi in relation to tax fraud totalling over four million euros. That, though, does not mean the Barça player's father will definitely have to go to prison. 

Jorge, the ruling continued, was the person in control of Messi's economic interests and taxes. "It has not proven that [Messi's] lack of knowledge was deliberate or was done with the aim of defrauding the Treasury," the prosecutors wrote, while also requesting that Leo Messi acts as a witness in the trial.

Now it's a case of seeing if the State Attorney comply with the Prosecutor's Office's decision, or if they still decide to pursue action against Messi for tax fraud and ask him to appear in court.