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BARCELONA, Spain -- Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta defended Lionel Messi against allegations of tax fraud on Thursday, a case that experts say could carry a prison sentence for the Argentina star. Lebron 15 Shoes Outlet . A Spanish state prosecutor filed a fraud complaint on Wednesday alleging that Messi and his father Jorge avoided paying 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in back taxes through illegal overseas tax havens. "I am convinced that neither Leo nor his father have committed any infraction," Laporta told Cope radio. "The situation could be that they dont have any responsibility in these events. There can be third parties who are responsible. "I know them and they have always wanted to act within the law, and thats how they acted with the club, at least when I was president." Laporta said that Messi and his family lacked the financial know-how necessary to have set up the network of shell companies and tax havens in countries including Belize and Uruguay described in the prosecutors complaint. "They were always careful, lets say even wary, when faced with these situations that were over their heads because they didnt have the knowledge of a lawyer or a tax expert, and so they went out and got advisers," he said. Messi has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers issued a statement on Thursday saying that he "has always punctually attended to his fiscal obligations." The case was submitted at the court in Gava, near the Mediterranean coastal town where Messi lives. A judge at the court must accept the prosecutors complaint before charges can be brought against Messi and his father. A court official told The Associated Press that a decision should come in a matter of days. If found guilty and barring an out-of-court deal with the tax office, Messi and his father could face 2-6 years in jail, according to Professor Sandalio Gomez, a sports finance analyst at the IESE Business School. In the complaint, state prosecutor Raquel Amado alleges that from 2006-09 Messi "obtained significant revenue derived from the transfer to third parties of his image rights, income which should have been taxed." Gomez told the AP that the prosecutors complaint appeared to be strong, while noting that hiring or establishing a company-- even overseas-- to manage players image rights was legal as long as they met their tax burdens in Spain. "(The complaint) is well argued," he said, adding that it reminded him of the investigation of Inaki Urdangarin, the son-in-law of Spains King Juan Carlos who is under investigation for possible tax fraud and money laundering. Laporta, who was Barcelonas president from 2003-10 and is considering running again in 2016 after his foray into politics, said that under his mandate Messi directly controlled 100 per cent of earnings from his image rights. But, Laporta said, Barcelona did follow a common practice of paying 15% of Messis salary to a company that controlled his image rights. He said that he didnt remember where that company was based. "If it was a company based outside Spain it would have been a registered company and in that sense a lawful company," Laporta said. Messi is not the first athlete to be investigated in Spain for taxes. Last year former Portugal star Luis Figo was forced to pay 2.45 million euros in income tax pertaining to image rights from 1997-99 while playing for Barcelona. In 2009, former top-ranked womens player Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario had to pay millions in back taxes. The 25-year-old Messi is widely considered the best player of his generation and one of the best in history after winning an unprecedented four straight FIFA world player of the year awards. He has scored 133 goals for Barcelona over the last two seasons and helped it win its fourth Spanish league title in five seasons this year. Messi, who is rated by Forbes as the worlds 10th highest-paid athlete, reportedly earned $41.3 million to June this year; with $20.3 coming from his club salary and $21 million in endorsements. Messi leads an apparently quiet life focused on his family-- he became a father last year-- and has never been linked to any unsavoury episodes, making him a universally liked figure in Spain and abroad. Spain has been cracking down on tax evasion as it fights to repair the countrys public finances amid recession and the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector. The country has been further hurt by a series of corruption and financial fraud cases which until now had been limited to the worlds of business and politics. Lebron Shoes On Sale . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Cheap Lebron 14 . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. http://www.lebronjamessneakerswholesale.com/ . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona.Royal Challengers Bangalores batting line-up contains Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson – but Sky Sports IPL presenter, Matt Floyd, reckons they WON’T make the play-offs… Caught your breath back after that stunning finish to the World T20?Its going to be hard to top that but the IPL is probably the only tournament that might be able to - it was, after all, this giant of T20 entertainment that helped mould some of the stars who shone for their national sides in India. A large number of them have stayed on for IPL 9, an edition that will have a slightly different feel to it.Firstly, IPL wouldnt be IPL without some sort of front-page controversy in the off-season. To cut a long story short, Gurunath Meiyappan (ex-team principal of Chennai Super Kings) and Raj Kundra (former co-owner of Rajasthan Royals) were found to have been involved in betting activity and their teams have been suspended for two years.Obviously this came as a huge shock to many and it will seem a little odd not to see MS Dhoni masterminding another tight win in yellow or the Royals unearthing another local star from nowhere, but the show must go on and we have two new franchises.Dhoni will captain in a mixture of pink, purple and blue this time (think Harlequins rugby) as he was snapped up by the Rising Pune Supergiants. I know what you are thinking: What on earth is a Supergiant? No idea, but it sounds big.Anyway, Dhoni took CSK stalwarts Ravi Ashwin and Faf Du Plessis with him, and many are intrigued to see how he will handle Kevin Pietersen. Kevin Pietersen will play for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 Gujarat Lions are the other new team and arguably theyve done even better in the draft - captain Suresh Raina could have some hard decisions to make with a squad containing the likes of Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Dwayne Smith and Dale Steyn.Looking a little deeper at the two new squads, though, it suggests they may have been hampered by a lack of options overall, with the six other teams having already retained the players they wanted. How Pune and Gujarats unproven local players perform could be vital to their success. The IPL returns on Saturday with Mumbai Indians versus Rising Pune Supergiants. KP and Eoin Morgan are back but the ex-England international might get more game time than the current limited-overs skipper. The Supergiants look a little short on batting fiirepower so I expect KP to play an important role. Lebron Shoes Deal. Morgans Sunrisers, though, dont have the same issues.Only four overseas can play from Kane Williamson, Morgan, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Ben Cutting, Trent Boult and Mustafizur Rahman, and it may be that the Hyderabad franchise feel they need to go for a bowler or all-rounder ahead of the England captain. Hopefully not! Will Eoin Morgan get regular game time at Sunrisers? The other two Englishmen in the competition will have plenty of intrigued fans keeping an eye on their scores. but will Jos Buttler and Sam Billings see much game time? I reckon they will, especially Buttler.Reigning champions Mumbai are a very strong outfit but a) hes got an X factor rarely seen around the world and b) there is an injury cloud over Lasith Malinga. He couldnt have picked a tougher side to break into for a foreigner (barring RCB perhaps) but his stock is high after the World T20 and IPL 9 could be the time when he fully announces himself on the big stage.Billings will find it harder, especially as Delhi have two excellent keeper/batsmen in their squad in Quinton De Kock and Sanju Samson, but he could play as a specialist batsman as that is an area where the Daredevils look a little thin.So, whos going to take home the trophy? Looking at the squads it seems a bit of a lottery (every side has a few match-winners!), so Ill go with the usual tactic of favouring the best bowling attacks as stats will tell you they generally win tournaments. AB de Villiers adds to a powerful Bangalore batting line-up Royal Challengers undoubtedly have the best top three with Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and theyve signed Shane Watson, but with no Mitchell Starc their bowling could potentially be toothless, so, at the risk of looking extremely stupid, I dont think theyll win it and may not even make the play-offs.Kolkata finished fifth last year and theyve hardly changed their squad but I fancy them to improve on that. Even if Sunil Narine isnt the force he once was they still have an impressive array of spinners to prosper on a pitch that usually takes turn - step forward Brad Hogg, Shakib Al Hasan, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan.Its hard to look past Mumbai as well and I reckon Sunrisers could spring a surprise - new signings Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur could well drive them into the knock-out stage for the first time since 2013. Ill go for the Gujarat Lions as the final team to go through as theyve got some great all-round options.It all kicks off with a bang on Saturday as Mumbai Indians take on Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium. Champs v Newbies, Buttler v KP, Rohit v Dhoni. Well see you then!Sky Sports is the only place you can watch all the action from the 2016 IPL, starting on Saturday as Kevin Pietersen and the Rising Pune Supergiants face defending chapions Mumbai Indians, including Englands Jos Buttler, live on Sky Sports 3 from 3pm.  Or watch live without a contract, on NOW TV. Also See: Best of Buttler Kevin Pietersens year IPL: How to watch Johnson pumped for IPL ' ' '