They filed in Spain the case against Messi and his Foundation for money laundering and other crimes

This is the second time that the magistrate has closed the investigation against Messi. In September 2019, he published a first dossier concluding that the events reported by Rettori were not corroborated by “a single personal or direct element”, since they had “their origin in one or more journalistic news of various kinds” .

The judge reopened the case in December 2019 to continue the investigation, but archived it again. “After almost two years of investigation, at the request of the public prosecutor, the proceedings conducted in relation to the complaint lodged by Federico Rettori could not prove any relationship or working relationship (of the complainant) with the Foundation,” said- it in a resolution of July 2 which has just taken place.

From the working documentation of the Spanish and Argentinean entities provided by the Messi Foundation “It is clear that in reality the complainant did not have a working relationship with her,” Tardón said. And he added: “Even no other type of contractual relationship has been proven from which prejudice could arise for the complainant.

The judge concluded that there was “no evidence to support the tax irregularities”, as Rettori had said.

These frauds, according to the complainant, stem from an alleged concealment of income from Messi Foundation and the condition of a mere instrument of this entity, which would have been used by the defendants to embezzle and hide funds in order to avoid paying taxes and incorporating them into their patrimony.

“As reported by the public prosecutor, the use of bank accounts in which the true ultimate owner of the property is hidden has not been proven, nor concepts that do not correspond to reality have been used”, said the investigating judge.

“In view of the low reliability of the complainant’s contributions, it was agreed to conduct a full investigation into the actions of the Leo Messi Foundation“, he explained in the resolution.

The judge requested reports from the National Fiscal Administration Agency and the Catalan Protectorate of Foundations. These institutions have indicated that they have not initiated any sanctioning procedure against the foundation of the FC Barcelona player.

Además, la información facilitada por el Protectorado “desmiente, categóricamente, la afirmación del denunciante de que el Protectorado no controla las cuentas de la Fundación, puesto que los informes de auditoría aportados evidencian la existencia de un efectivo control por el organismo remitente de las actividades of the Leo Messi Foundation“.

Tardón reiterates that “a large part of the documentation provided by the complainant consisted of references to selected journalistic information, on which, without discussing their indisputable value in the field of information, cannot be the only support for the survival of the subject matter of the criminal proceedings ”.

“The interested selection of journalistic articles, although it constituted the initial vehicle by which the criminal investigation was carried out to reach a result in conformity with the requirements of a criminal procedure, it can no longer be perpetuated without further objective support, indication or evidence which can corroborate at least the information provided ”, he concluded.