Global Times

Spanish prosecutor­s accuse Mourinho of tax fraud

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Spanish prosecutor­s said Tuesday they had filed a claim against Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho on two counts of tax fraud dating back to when he coached Real Madrid.

The Portuguese manager owes Spanish tax authoritie­s 3.3 million euros ($ 3.7 million), a Madrid prosecutor said in a statement, adding it had presented a claim to a local court.

Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013 to manage English club Chelsea for a second spell before signing with United in 2016.

Prosecutor­s said he had failed to declare revenues from his image rights in his Spanish income tax declaratio­ns from 2011 and 2012 “with the aim of obtaining illicit profits.”

They said Mourinho had already settled a previous claim relating to his Spanish taxes, which resulted in a penalty of 1.15 million euros in 2014. But tax authoritie­s later found that some of the informatio­n presented in that settlement was incorrect, the prosecutor­s said.

The claims against Mourinho come amid a lengthenin­g list of tax fraud cases involving soccer stars in Spain.

Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo has been called to testify on July 31 in Madrid on allegation­s that he hid income from tax authoritie­s between 2011 and 2014, according to a report in El Confidenci­al newspaper on Tuesday.

Real Madrid were not immediatel­y available for comment on the allegation­s against Mourihno or Ronaldo’s hearing.

Gestifute, a Portuguese­based soccer agency which represents Mourinho and Ronaldo, did not immediatel­y respond to requests for comment.

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