Mourinho accused of tax fraud

Troubled Ronaldo gets Madrid court date

MADRID, June 20, (AFP): Cristiano Ronaldo’s woes deepened Tuesday when the star striker who reportedly wants to quit Real Madrid was summoned to appear before a judge investigating tax fraud.

Ronaldo, 32, said to have vowed that he would never play for Real Madrid again, was ordered to appear in a Madrid court on July 31 to answer four counts of tax evasion of 14.7 million euro ($16.5m).

Spain’s Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro urged media to respect the presumption of innocence regarding the four-time world player of the year.

“What is very important for me is to insist that no one is a criminal if he is not convicted,” Montoro told a press stars must be “exemplary” and “particularly scrupulous in the fulfilment of their tax obligations” because their actions “radiate over the whole society, for example on youth, children”.

According to media reports Ronaldo is unsettled at Real Madrid because he believes the European champions did not back him as fully as he had hoped in his dispute with the taxman.

And he has also complained on multiple occasions in the past about Real supporters, who have resorted at times to jeering and booing his performance on the pitch.

However club president Florentino Perez disclosed that no offers had been received by Real to tempt Ronaldo away and the club was determined to keep him. “Ronaldo is a Real player and will continue to be so as far as we are concerned,” Perez told Marca sports daily Tuesday. “No offer has been received for him.”

In an earlier report Marca said Ronaldo has told his teammates he was leaving and “there is no turning back”.

However, Perez said that he had not spoken to Ronaldo, who is on duty for Portugal at the Confederations Cup in Russia, which ends on July 2.

Ronaldo

He also confirmed that Ronaldo’s contract was ring-fenced by a one billion euro release clause.

“I have not spoken with him. We don’t want to disturb his concentration with the national team,” said Perez.

“But something really bizarre would have to happen if he were to leave this club.”

Perez said he could understood why Ronaldo had been upset after he was accused last week of tax fraud.

He said that Ronaldo had clearly done nothing wrong and Perez was appalled that the “presumption of innocence is not respected” by the media who have branded the played a delinquent.

As for Mourinho, Manchester United 54-year-old Portuguese coach, he stands accused of two counts of tax fraud while he coached Real Madrid from 2010 to 2013.

Perez, a 70-year-old construction magnate said to be close to Ronaldo, was elected unopposed Monday for a third term in charge of Europe’s most successful club.

His first big challenge is keeping Ronaldo at the club he joined in 2009 from Manchester United for a record 94 million euros ($105.3 million).

Perez has dismissed speculation that Ronaldo is trying to put pressure on Real so that they will bear some of the burden of an eventual fine for tax evasion as Barcelona did for Lionel Messi. MIAMI, June 20, (AFP): Tiger Woods, arrested three weeks ago for impaired driving, said Monday he is receiving “professional help” to manage his medications and help cope with back pain and a sleep disorder.

Woods, a 14-time major golf champion who has not won a PGA Tour title since 2013, was arrested May 29 when police in Jupiter, Florida, found him asleep at the wheel of his car on a road.

A police report uncovered by The Golf Channel said Woods told authorities he had not been drinking but had a reaction to several prescription drugs, including Xanax, which can be used to treat insomnia.

Woods, 41, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, although he did not show any sign of alcohol in a breathalyzer test.

His arraignment on those charges has been set for Aug 9. In his first comments since the release of police video footage showing him struggling to pass a sobriety test, Woods said he has sought aid in fighting medicating issues.

“I’m currently receiving professional help to manage my medications and the ways that I deal with back pain and a sleep disorder,” Woods wrote in a posting on Twitter.