Tax fraud: Messi freed but prosecutors want his father jailed

Barcelona prosecutors are calling for the arrest of Lionel Messi's father in a tax fraud case.

Prosecutors have cleared Messi of wrongdoing but are seeking an 18-month prison sentence for his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, for allegedly defrauding Spain's tax office of €4m (now £3m) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09.

The decision is considered a win for Lionel Messi, who had also been mentioned in the investigation. A Spanish judge had recently rejected an appeal filed by the player's lawyers to drop the Barcelona star from the case.

In the documents made public on Tuesday, prosecutors also called for a fine of €2m for the father of the Argentina playmaker.

After analyzing the declarations made by Leo Messi to the court in 2013, the prosecutor requested the dismissal because the player would never have been aware of each other.

"I did not read the contracts that were submitted to me. I have always signed what I was given by my father, I trust him with my eyes closed," - Messi said in his defence to the judge.

In recent days the brother of Leo, Matias, was stopped for illegal possession of arms . After a scuffle with the officers was taken to the police station before being released, not having a criminal record.