Brazil Protests; Road to Brazil
QUEST: Protesters clashed with Brazil -- with police in Brazil exactly a year before the country is due to host the World Cup, 365 days. So glad we got that right. Twenty-five people were arrested during demonstrations in Sao Paolo. Teargas was used as some protesters burned buses and damaged train stations demonstrating about an increase in public transport fares of about 10 cents. Now, the demonstrations raised questions about the Brazilian infrastructure ahead of the tournament. Paula Newton is in Rio for us tonight. Once -- oh, well, we've gone from the beach. We've obviously -- you've obviously had enough of the beach and showing us the delights of Copa Cabana. But 365 days to go and demonstrations and worries.</s>PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Demonstrations and worries. And you know, Richard, what you just described, those riots in Sao Paulo, not unrelated to the World Cup. Why? Because Brazilians are saying look, what do we get out of this World Cup? And many local officials, federal officials are saying, look, we're going to improve the infrastructure. But some are questioning why so much money should be put into these stadiums as opposed to the infrastructure. I can tell you, Richard, I know we talked from the beach, but most people in Brazil are spending a lot of time getting to and from work, and they're spending a lot less time on those beaches, and that is what is so angering them. Put in the middle of that billions spent on stadiums here in Brazil and you have a lot of controversy still with one year set to go, as you explained. But I want you to have a look at this, now. They are building -- 12 host cities, again, Richard -- and they are even building one in the middle of the Amazon. Take a look.</s>NEWTON (voice-over): It's one of South America's most unique cities, with the Amazon rain forest as its back yard. This is Manaus, Brazil, and in 2014, it will also be one of Brazil's 12 host cities for the FIFA World Cup. Around the city, you can see this rendering of what the stadium will look like. But like many of Brazil's World Cup venues, in reality, it is still very much under construction.</s>MIGUEL CAPOBIANGO NETO, COORDINATOR, MANAUS WORLD CUP MANAGEMENT UNIT (through translator): We started the construction of the Arena Amazonia in June 2010. We started destroying the first stadium that was here before, and since then, we've been building this arena that will be the beauty of the World Cup. Right now, we're about 65 percent done, so we'll finish in December of this year.</s>NEWTON: There really is no option other than to be done by then, because having the Amazon as the backdrop is both a blessing and a curse. The rainy season will start in December, giving Manaus only six months to finish instead of a full year. Now, to help save time, parts of the stadium, like the roof, are being built in other locations, from Portugal to Germany to southern Brazil, and then assembled in Manaus.</s>NETO (through translator): These logistics give us a big headache, so we need very good planning to have everything here at the right time.</s>NEWTON: Manaus's mayor, Arthur Virgilio, admits he, too, is a little worried, but knows too much is at stake for his city not to be ready, and that they can't just rely on the attraction of the Amazon.</s>ARTHUR VIRGILIO, MAYOR OF MANAUS: Nature is OK. Nature's OK. We have to do the part of man. I think it's -- God gave us his part, it's OK. We have to do ours now.</s>NEWTON: The stadium will take advantage of those nature resources so abundant here by implementing eco-friendly solutions into the design. They are also using material from the original smaller stadium that once stood on the very same spot. That's to cut down on the amount of waste.</s>NETO (through translator): When we thought about building this arena, we thought about sustainability, by saving the rain water, using sunlight, and using the wind.</s>NEWTON: In this city of nearly 2 million people, infrastructure, though, is also a question mark. But the city hopes scheduled improvement projects meant for the World Cup, like expanding the airport and improving electricity supplies, will continue to benefit Manaus long after 2014.</s>NEWTON: Now, in terms of this actual stadium being ready, we spoke -- CNN spoke with the secretary general today, he was here for that countdown event and also to kick off the Confederations Cup, which begins in Brazil on Saturday, and he said, look, there is no plan B. These stadiums will be ready, they absolutely have to be ready. Richard, I'm here at Maracana Stadium, this is where the World Cup final will be held. I was here last week taking a look around. Things seemed fairly much in order, although there are still construction workers outside --</s>QUEST: All right.</s>NEWTON: -- and most people saying, look, most of the stadiums will be ready by December. And -- no, no, I'm going to leave you with something else now. Now, Richard, you know how loud I can be on any given day, but now, this is called a caxirola. And unfortunately, they tried to use it as a test match. I'm going to shake that for you again.</s>NEWTON: They tried to use it at a test match. Unfortunately for security reasons, it is now banned by FIFA. So still a lot of different wrinkles to work out in this country before it can host the World Cup. Go ahead, you were going to say something, I'm sure.</s>QUEST: I was only going to say one can always rely on Paula Newton to make more noise than most, even from the other side of the world. Paula Newton with -- whatever that thing's called. Just leave it behind. Now, join us for a road trip through Brazil. We're examining the countries on the move in travel, culture, and sport, and with all the special coverage on world business today all this week. The Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his father have been accused of committing a $5 million tax fraud. Messi, who's often been named as the greatest player in football today, has denied wrongdoing. Pedro Pinto is with me. What's this all about?</s>PEDRO PINTO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a story that took everyone by surprise, not only in the football world, but in the sports world. Leo Messi has an incredibly clean image. And what we're hearing out of Spain and the local prosecutor's office in Barcelona is that both Leo Messi and his dad, Jorge, have been accused of defrauding the state of more than $5 million. And apparently, both of them filed fraudulent returns during three years, and the money that they are apparently hiding from the government pertains to payments that were made regarding his image rights. So, this is not anything to do with the salary at FC Barcelona. That's why the club has not commented. I'll tell you that the player and his camp did comment earlier today, releasing an official statement on Facebook, and we can show you a short excerpt of that, in which they said they were surprised about the news because they had never been aware of committing any infringement. And they go on to say, "We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations following the advices of our tax consultants, who will take care of clarifying the situation." Just to give you an idea, the government now and the Treasury there is looking at transfers that were made from Spain into offshore accounts and were not declared.</s>QUEST: This is going to be very messy, isn't it, in the --</s>PINTO: I knew that was coming.</s>QUEST: You know what I mean. This is going to be a really messy tax question of whether an interpretation of an obscure part of the tax regulations.</s>PINTO: What happens is that Leo Messi is one of the highest-earning athletes --</s>QUEST: Right.</s>PINTO: -- on the planet. In 2012, he made a total of $40 million. That is salary plus endorsements. This kind of investigation pertains to money that he earned off the pitch, so this is part of his endorsements deals, image rights, and that the government is now investigating. They haven't been charged yet, but they have had flags up, according to this amount of money, $5 million, that they're trying to account for.</s>QUEST: We'll follow this closely as, indeed, I'm sure will you. Thank you.</s>PINTO: Yes.</s>QUEST: Pedro Pinto joining me. Still ahead, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS as we wind our merry way through our nightly conversation on economics and business. Our next guests have very differing views about what's ahead for Europe. Ireland's finance minister says the recovery is on track. John Kay, the economist, is waiting for financial collapse.</s>QUEST: QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.