Spain prosecutor says not opposed to lifting prison sentence for Messi

The Barcelona state prosecutor said on Friday it was not opposed to substituting a 21-month prison sentence for a fine for tax fraud handed down to soccer player Lionel Messi, as long as the fine was the maximum allowed under law.

The maximum fine would be 255,500 euros (224,381.15 pounds), Reuters calculations showed, on top of a nearly 2 million euro fine handed down as part of last year's sentence.

Neither is the prosecutor opposed to suspending Messi's prison sentence, and that of his father, on proviso that they have no more brushes with the law for three years given that both have had clean criminal records up to now.

Messi and his father Jorge were found guilty by a Catalan court last July on three counts of tax fraud between 2007 and 2009 to the tune of 4.1 million euros on image rights.

The judge in charge of the case will make a decision bearing in mind the prosecutor's recommendations. Judges usually follow the state prosecutor's recommendations in Spain.