梅西涉嫌逃稅再遭指控 最高面臨22月刑期

MADRID — Lionel Messi, the star of F.C. Barcelona, is set to appear in court alongside his father to face tax fraud charges relating to past advertising contracts.

馬德里——巴塞羅那足球俱樂部的明星球員利昂內爾·梅西(Lionel Messi)將同父親一起上庭，面臨與其過去的廣告合同有關的稅務欺詐指控。

The judge in charge of the case has not yet set a date for the trial, according to reports in the Spanish news media on Thursday. The judge’s decision follows a report from the state legal services, which represent Spain’s national tax agency and called for Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio, to face charges that carry a sentence of as much as 22 months in prison.

根據西班牙新聞媒體週四的報道，負責本案的法官尚未設定庭審日期。法官的此番決定是聽取了政府法律服務部門的一份報告的意見。該部門代表西班牙國家稅務機關，提出梅西及其父豪爾赫·奧拉西奧(Jorge Horacio)應接受刑事指控，適用最高爲22個月的刑期。

The state legal services rejected the argument made by Lionel Messi’s lawyers, as well as recently by the the state prosecution, that only Jorge Horacio Messi should stand trial as the instigator of the suspect business deals.

政府法律服務部門沒有采納梅西的律師和公訴方近期提出的說法，也就是隻應讓豪爾赫·奧拉西奧·梅西作爲可疑商務交易的發起人來接受審判。

Instead, the state legal services concluded that, even if he did not set up any of his business contracts himself, Messi, “couldn’t have ignored” that a significant part of his income was generated via offshore companies, according to the report, which was not made public but was disclosed by newspaper El País.

政府法律服務部門的報告稱其得出結論，就算梅西本人沒有染指他的任何商務合同，但他“絕不可能忽視”自己收入的很大一塊通過離岸公司產生。這份報告並未公之於衆，但被《國家報》(El País)披露了出來。

The accusations against Messi and his father date to 2013, when a state prosecutor opened an investigation into whether the two had defrauded the state of about 4 million euros (about $4.5 million) by using offshore companies in countries like Belize to avoid paying Spanish taxes on advertising contracts. The investigation focused on Messi’s tax returns filed between 2007 and 2009.

對梅西父子的指控要追溯到2013年。當時，一名公訴人開始正式調查兩人是否曾偷逃400萬歐元左右（約合2900萬元人民幣）的稅款，方式是通過伯利茲等國的離岸公司來避免向西班牙繳納廣告合同稅款。調查的重點放在了梅西在2007年到2009年間的報稅單上。

Even if found guilty, Messi is unlikely to spend any time in prison because sentences for financial crime of less than two years are suspended under Spanish law. Furthermore, Messi and his father have agreed to make an additional tax payment of 5 million euros — covering the alleged unpaid taxes as well as interest charges — in 2013, shortly after their advertising deals were placed under court investigation.

就算被判有罪，梅西也很可能不會在高牆之內待上哪怕一天，因爲西班牙法律規定，不到兩年刑期的經濟類犯罪適用於緩期執行。而且，梅西父子的廣告交易遭法院調查後不久，他們已於2013年同意補繳500萬歐元的稅款——被控偷逃的款項加上利息。

Messi has won four FIFA world player of the year awards and led last season Barcelona to another Champions League victory, as well as the Spanish league and cup titles. Messi, 28, is from Argentina but moved to Spain when he was 13 to join Barcelona’s youth academy.

梅西四次贏得國際足聯(FIFA)的年度運動員獎，並在上個賽季帶領巴塞羅那俱樂部又一次摘得歐洲冠軍聯賽的桂冠，以及西班牙聯賽和杯賽的頭名。梅西現年28歲，來自阿根廷，但在13歲時移居西班牙加入了巴塞羅那的青訓營。

Some other high-profile players are facing similar tax evasion investigations, linked to advertising deals allegedly set up through offshore companies in order to avoid Spanish taxes. Without commenting on the allegations, Javier Mascherano, who plays alongside Messi both for Barcelona and Argentina, agreed last month to pay back-taxes and interest charges on income. But another star player who is under investigation, Xabi Alonso, denied recently ever failing to comply with his Spanish tax obligations.

還有其他一些著名球員面臨類似的逃稅調查，涉及通過離岸公司進行廣告交易來避免向西班牙繳稅。與梅西同在巴塞羅那俱樂部和阿根廷國家隊效力的哈維爾·馬斯切拉諾(Javier Mascherano)上月達成協議，補繳所得稅和利息，但並未就逃稅指控發表看法。不過，另一名正接受調查的明星球員哈維·阿隆索(Xabi Alonso)近期則否認自己未曾履行西班牙的繳稅義務。