Inquiry into Maradona's finances

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Former football star Diego Maradona is being investigated for possible financial irregularities in Argentina, reports say.

A court has asked the nation's Central Bank to examine every transaction Maradona has made since 2005.

Bank sources say they are looking more at possible tax evasion than money laundering, a BBC correspondent says.

Maradona - who led Argentina to its 1986 World Cup triumph in Mexico - has so far made no comment on the issue.

Argentina's Central Bank has sent requests to all the banks in the country requesting information within five days, the BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Buenos Aires says.

In a statement, the bank said it was merely collecting information for the court and was not taking part in an investigation.

The investigation itself has been going on for the past few months, our correspondent says.

Troubled star

It is not the first time Diego Maradona's finances have come under the scrutiny of the authorities.

In June 2006, he was prosecuted in Italy for tax evasion and had two Rolex watches confiscated.

It is believed that the former footballer has made and lost millions of dollars since he burst onto the world football scene as a teenage prodigy for the Argentine national team in the late 1970s.

He has suffered from drug abuse and weight problems, but many in Argentina still afford him a godlike status, our correspondent says.

He says that the life of Maradona, who is 46 now, seemed to be getting back on track.

He lost weight and now tours the world, sometimes playing with an indoor football exhibition team.

But Maradona is never out of the headlines for long - a troubled star who lives his life in the spotlight, our correspondent says.