Lionel Messi tax fraud case: Barcelona star cleared of all charges but

Revenue had been hidden using a web of shell companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, according to the prosecutor’s office.

However, the lawyers will continue to uphold the charges against his father Jorge Messi.

Sport reports that the prosecutors in Barcelona have issued a statement explaining: “It has not been proven that [Messi’s] lack of knowledge was deliberate or was done with the aim of defrauding the Treasury”.

The alleged fraud took place between 2007 and 2009.

Messi and his father had already paid a voluntary €5 million “corrective payment” back in 2013, but that hasn’t been enough to make all of this messiness go away.

Messi could, however, be called upon to testify in the case against Jorge, who has acted as his son’s agent throughout his professional career.

Their opinion on the case is yet to be published.

The player is likely to still appear in court as a witness.

The charges are largely in relation to the player’s earnings from endorsements such as those in partnership with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter and Gamble, and Kuwait Food Company.