The judge of the National Court María Tardón has filed the complaint filed by an individual against the footballer Leo Messi and several members of his family for alleged crimes against public finances, accounting, fraud and money laundering through his foundation.
In an order, the magistrate points out that, after a “particularly complex and exhaustive investigation” of almost two years, the existence of any criminal activity on the part of the accused has not been proven, as reported by the Prosecutor’s Office in its petition of dismissal.
Specifically, he does not appreciate that the Leo Messi Foundation was a mere instrument used by the accused to divert and hide funds to avoid paying the corresponding taxes and incorporate them into their assets, as the complainant, Federico Rettori, claimed.
It adds that the use of bank accounts to hide the true owner of assets or the use of concepts that do not correspond to reality has not been proven either.
The magistrate collects that, from the documentation provided by the Messi Foundation, it is clear that the complainant did not have any employment relationship with it, and adds that no other type of contractual relationship has been proven, from which any harm could arise for him. .
It concludes that not only has it not proven that it has suffered any damage, “but the possible irregularities that it invoked in its complaint have been shown to be clearly non-existent” after the proceedings carried out and after analyzing the reports of the Tax Agency, the Catalan Protectorate of Foundations and of the Messi Foundation.
The judge recalls that “given the low reliability of the complainant, it was agreed to carry out an exhaustive investigation of the actions of the Messi Foundation in Spain.”
The order reports that it has finally been discovered that «through the Social Team society a collaboration proposal was presented to the Leo Messi Foundation in a project to fight infant mortality in Sierra Leone, which was to lead the association ‘For a good path ‘, which the complainant presided over, and which was frustrated.
The reason was that the Government of Sierra Leone paralyzed the projects in his country due to the Ebola epidemic, which, according to the order, was communicated to Rettori on September 8, 2014, who did not inform the Leo Messi Foundation of this. “From which he had already received one hundred thousand euros to pay for the project in two donations.”
He adds that despite that communication, he received from the Foundation a new donation of 50,000 euros destined for the project that no longer existed in June 2015.
The judge recalls that the complainant declared that he came to file a lawsuit against the Leo Messi Foundation to obtain the full amount of what the cost of the project would have involved, but that he withdrew from it after reaching an agreement. EFE (HN)