Messi denies tax evasion in Panama Papers scandal

The family of Lionel Messi denied on Monday that he was involved in tax evasion after the Barcelona star emerged as one of many personalities accused of shady offshore dealings in the Panama Papers scandal.

"The Messi family wants to make clear that Lionel Messi has not carried out any of the acts attributed to him, and accusations he created a... tax evasion plot, including a network of money-laundering, are false and insulting," it said in a statement.

The scandal erupted on Sunday when media groups made public a year-long worldwide investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm that exposed a tangle of offshore financial dealings by the elite.

Among the accused are close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson as well as sports celebrities and screen stars.

Messi and his father are named as owners of a Panama company that had not previously been disclosed during a Spanish probe into their tax affairs.

"The Panama company to which they refer to is a totally inactive company that never had any funds or any open current accounts," the Messi family said.

They added that the firm was created by the family's former tax advisers and that everything had since been brought into line where Messi's fiscal situation was concerned.

Barca backing:

Barcelona have given Messi's family their backing.

"Barcelona wishes to express the club trusts the arguments the Messi family have made public and that from the moment the documents linking Leo Messi with 'the Panama papers' were made public, Barcelona have shown their support and solidarity to the player and all his family," the European champions said in a statement.

"The club has put all its judicial, fiscal and administrative means at the disposition of the family should they need to clarify their position and repute in this case," the statement added.

A tax fraud case against Messi is to be heard in a Barcelona court between May 31 and June 3 after the World Player of the Year and his father Jorge were accused by the tax office in 2013 of defrauding the Spanish state of 4.2 million euros ($4.5 million) from 2007-09.

Revenue was hidden using shell companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the United Kingdom to avoid paying tax, according to the prosecutor's office.

It is not yet clear if or how this case relates to the details provided in the 'Panama papers'.

Last October a Spanish court ordered that Messi and his father stand trial. The state attorney has proposed jail terms of up to 22 months if they are found guilty.

Messi and his father, who has denied the accusations, paid five million euros to the tax authorities as a "corrective" measure after being formally charged in June 2013.

Messi is preparing to play for Barca in Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg at home to Atletico Madrid.