Rome prosecutors are seeking charges against former Napoli star Diego Maradona for allegedly defaming the former head of Italy's tax collection agency.
Maradona is accused of having defamed the former president of Equitalia -- the department responsible for collecting taxes in Italy -- Attilio Befera in remarks he made in 2012, when he claimed he was being mistreated by the Italian authorities.
The Rome district attorney Nicola Maiorano said on Wednesday that Maradona, "in a series of public appearances and interviews, claimed he was victim of instrumental persecution by Equitalia on the grounds of falsified documentation and irregular procedures that had brought him close to irreparable gestures."
As a result, Maiorano has called for Maradona to stand trial. A hearing will take place on March 18 to determine whether the former Napoli star will be summoned to court.
Maradona's solicitor Angelo Pisani has already made a statement on the 54-year-old's behalf.
"Maradona only legitimately exercised, and in the right places, his right to defend himself and to declare his well-known innocence and non-involvement with inexistent debts," Pisani said in a statement published by La Stampa.
Although the defamation claim relates to remarks Maradona made in 2012, the World Cup winner had made further comments about Equitalia on a more recent visit to Italy in October 2013.
The Argentine is in a long-standing dispute with the Italian tax authorities over an estimated 40 million euros in taxes he is accused of not having paid during his seven years as a Napoli player.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.