Madrid (AFP)

The Spanish justice has dismissed a complaint filed in June against the Argentine football star Lionel Messi and his foundation by a former employee accusing them of tax evasion, fraud and money laundering, announced Monday the National Court hearing.

The judge in charge of the case in this high court in Madrid explains in her decision "that the complaint is based on a narrative of facts from press information and does not bring a single plausible evidence of personal knowledge and direct" the complainant, the institution stresses in his statement.

It has therefore decided to classify it without result, continues the statement.

This complaint was lodged in June by Federico Rettori, an Argentinian living on the Spanish island of Mallorca and having worked for the Messi foundation.

It was directed against the FC Barcelona striker, his father Jorge, his brother Rodrigo, and "all the people, still unidentified, who in one way or another would have administered or managed funds to the Leo Messi Foundation ", according to the text of the complaint consulted by AFP.

Last year, Mr. Rettori filed a complaint in Argentina for similar facts. According to a judicial source, the complaint followed the opening of a preliminary inquiry, but neither Lionel Messi nor his father have been charged so far.

In his complaint, Rettori claimed that the funds collected by the foundation, which "originally intended to be for social purposes", were "diverted to other private activities or bank accounts different from those declared by this foundation. ".

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