Super-agent in court over ‘tax evasion’

MADRID: Football super-agent Jorge Mendes is due to be questioned by a Spanish judge for the first time yesterday as part of a probe into striker Radamel Falcao’s alleged tax evasion, just one of his clients to fall foul of the country’s judiciary.

As Spanish authorities tighten the net around footballers – with Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, another Mendes client, the latest to be accused of tax evasion to the tune of €14.7 million (RM71.4 million) – their advisers and agents are coming under scrutiny too.

Monaco’s Falcao is suspected of failing to correctly declare €5.6 million of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while he was at Atletico Madrid.

The Colombian is accused of using a web of shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Ireland, Colombia and Panama to avoid taxes on the image rights income.

Mendes is due to appear before a court at Pozuelo de Alarcon, near Madrid, as part of the investigation, but his company Gestifute has already denied any wrongdoing.

“Neither Jorge Mendes nor the company he manages, Gestifute, participate in or offer any service linked, directly or indirectly, to financial, fiscal or legal advice to their clients,” it said earlier this month.

Falcao is but one of Mendes’ clients to run into trouble with Spain’s judiciary.

Ronaldo himself, the world’s highest paid athlete according to Forbes, is due to be questioned