Lionel Messi may face up to six years in jail

Barcelona star Lionel Messi could face up to six years of jail as the Spanish authorities have began their probe against the World Player of the Year and his father Jorge for alleged tax fraud of more than four million euros.

Messi’s lawyers are preparing for the court battle. His legal counsel Angel Juarez has argued that he was not aware of such notification over his alleged tax fraud.

Prosecutor Raquel Amado is probing the complaint against Messi and his father that the duo have skipped paying taxes from sales of the Messi`s image rights.

“We’d like to express our surprise with the news published by several media outlets. Neither us, nor our client has received any notification from the prosecutor in relation to what has been reported,” Messi’s lawyer has issued the statement on Wednesday.

“As his legal and fiscal council, we will take all the appropriate legal action against the complaint of the prosecutor and we are confident that justice will prevail,” it added.

The 25-year-old Messi won FIFA’s The World Player of the Year for the consecutive four years since 2006 to 2009. He has scored 133 goals for Barcelona over the last two seasons and created history in La Liga.

The Argentine is one of the highest-paid footballers in the world and Barcelona pays him 16 million euros annual salary.

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