Lionel Messi says he knew nothing about tax fraud

Barcelona's Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi (C) arrives to court with his father Jorge Horacio Messi to stand trial for tax fraud in Barcelona, Spain, June 2, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BARCELONA - Soccer's five-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messi said on Thursday he knew nothing about an alleged tax evasion scheme when he signed contracts related to image rights.

The Barcelona and Argentina forward appeared in court in Barcelona on Thursday alongside his father Jorge Horacio to testify against charges of tax evasion.

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.

They could face jail terms of up to 22 months if found guilty, although it is customary in Spain that offenders of non-violent crimes with a sentence of under two years do not serve time in jail.

The case centres on the player's image rights and a web of shell companies allegedly used to evade taxes on income from those rights.

According to the prosecutors' office, revenue was hidden using shell companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

In court Lionel Messi admitted to signing contracts protecting his image rights but said he had no knowledge he was partaking in any wrongdoing or defrauding the Spanish state.

"The truth is that I knew nothing. As my father explained, I was devoted to playing football, I trusted my father, I trusted the lawyers he had chosen to run things and I had no idea about anything," he told the judge.

"I signed them (contracts) because I trust my father. He is my father and it obviously never crossed my mind that he would fool me or disappoint me so I signed because he told me to, because I trusted him, and as I said before, the lawyers told us to do it that way," he also said.

Asked if he had ever suspected the scheme was set up to avoid tax in Spain, Messi responded: No, because I know nothing about that matter. I was honestly never interested in that."