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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.
马德里——巴塞罗那足球俱乐部的明星球员利昂内尔·梅西(Lionel Messi)将同父亲一起上庭，面临与其过去的广告合同有关的税务欺诈指控。
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.
根据西班牙新闻媒体周四的报道，负责本案的法官尚未设定庭审日期。法官的此番决定是听取了政府法律服务部门的一份报告的意见。该部门代表西班牙国家税务机关，提出梅西及其父豪尔赫·奥拉西奥(Jorge Horacio)应接受刑事指控，适用最高为22个月的刑期。
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.
政府法律服务部门没有采纳梅西的律师和公诉方近期提出的说法，也就是只应让豪尔赫·奥拉西奥·梅西作为可疑商务交易的发起人来接受审判。
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.
政府法律服务部门的报告称其得出结论，就算梅西本人没有染指他的任何商务合同，但他“绝不可能忽视”自己收入的很大一块通过离岸公司产生。这份报告并未公之于众，但被《国家报》(El País)披露了出来。
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.
对梅西父子的指控要追溯到2013年。当时，一名公诉人开始正式调查两人是否曾偷逃400万欧元左右（约合2900万元人民币）的税款，方式是通过伯利兹等国的离岸公司来避免向西班牙缴纳广告合同税款。调查的重点放在了梅西在2007年到2009年间的报税单上。
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，梅西也很可能不会在高墙之内待上哪怕一天，因为西班牙法律规定，不到两年刑期的经济类犯罪适用于缓期执行。而且，梅西父子的广告交易遭法院调查后不久，他们已于2013年同意补缴500万欧元的税款——被控偷逃的款项加上利息。
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.
梅西四次赢得国际足联(FIFA)的年度运动员奖，并在上个赛季带领巴塞罗那俱乐部又一次摘得欧洲冠军联赛的桂冠，以及西班牙联赛和杯赛的头名。梅西现年28岁，来自阿根廷，但在13岁时移居西班牙加入了巴塞罗那的青训营。
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.
还有其他一些著名球员面临类似的逃税调查，涉及通过离岸公司进行广告交易来避免向西班牙缴税。与梅西同在巴塞罗那俱乐部和阿根廷国家队效力的哈维尔·马斯切拉诺(Javier Mascherano)上月达成协议，补缴所得税和利息，但并未就逃税指控发表看法。不过，另一名正接受调查的明星球员哈维·阿隆索(Xabi Alonso)近期则否认自己未曾履行西班牙的缴税义务。
