Photo: Football legend Lionel Messi arrives in court for tax fraud case

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Four-time FIFA footballer of the year Lionel Messi and his father Jorge arrived in a Spanish court this morning Friday September 27th to answer charges of alleged tax fraud. Messi and his father are being accused of hiding over £3.4 million by filing incomplete tax returns from 2006 to 2009.

The charges against father and son was lodged by a state prosecutor in June 2013 claiming that they tried to conceal earnings from Messi's image rights - charges they both deny.
"I never take care of that (tax) stuff myself and neither does my father," Messi said in July. "We have our lawyers and our wealth managers to take care of that and we trust them and they will sort this out. The truth is I don’t have a clue about all this and that is why we have people taking care of it."
Messi has already paid the Spanish authorities the unpaid tax he's owing plus interest (he paid £4.2m) but because tax fraud is a serious offense in Spain, he still has to make an appearance in court where the courts will determine whether the case is pursued any further. Hopefully it will all end today!

Read Post | comments

Everybody Calls Me Thief, But Nobody Knows What Led Me To This — Suspect

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Marvellous Moris, which is actually not so marvellous as his first name, a 27-year old theft suspect, has allegedly confessed in court that hunger drove him into stealing a handset in a cosmetic store.
The suspect protested Monday at a Lagos court for being charged to court after the police had recovered the stolen item from him.
He said he was not a long-time thief and the police should not have charged him to court because they have recovered the phone from him, adding that he only stole it to sell and buy food to eat.
Morris blamed the police for his predicament, confessing that he had to steal in order to make ends meet.
He said nobody, including the police, bothered to ask him whether he had eaten the day he stole.
“I did not eat a day before I stole and there was no hope of eating that day. So I tried to find a way to survive,” he said.
Morris said he pleaded with the police to release him because he was not a long-time thief but they went ahead to charge him to court.
“Everybody is interested in calling me a thief and nobody knows what led me to stealing,” he lamented.
The Edo-State born suspect explained that he is from a poor family and he had looked for job but did not find any, so he had to steal to survive.
Morris was arrested at 2, Temidara Street LIasu Road , Egbe Idimu, Idimu, Lagos where he allegedly stole a Samsung hand set worth N18,000 belonging to James Nwanuji, under false pretense that he wanted to buy some items in the cosmetic store.
He was caught later when he allegedly went to sell it. Morris was handed over to the police at Idimu Division for theft and the handset was tendered as exhibit.
When asked whether he went to the shops to buy items, he said he went there only to steal.
Morris is now facing one-count charge of stealing before the court where he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The presiding Magistrate, Mr P. E. Nwaka, granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum. He was remanded in prison custody because he did not meet his bail condition.
The matter was adjourned till 13 November for mention.

Read Post | comments