Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mourinho’s one year jail term...
JOSE Mourinho has agreed to accept a one-year jail sentence as a result of his involvement in a £3million tax fraud.
The Manchester United boss was reported yesterday to have struck a plea bargain with Spanish prosecutors.
It’s probable the sentence will be suspended which means he will not be sent to prison.
Respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo said Mourinho has accepted a sixmonth jail sentence for the two financial crimes the football coach was accused of.
His lawyers and the prosecution struck a deal in the past few days.
The 55-year-old has always insisted his “tax situation was perfectly legal”. But now El Mundo said he has agreed to pay a £1.78million fine – 60% of the amount defrauded. His tax affairs were placed under new scrutiny last year.
Prosecutors alleged Mourinho owed the Spanish state undeclared revenue relating to image rights in 2011 and 2012.
The claims involved allegations false information was given to Spain’s Tax Agency during a 2015 probe, prompting prosecutors to re-open a case that had been archived after Mourinho paid a sixfigure fine.
Mourinho played down any suggestion of wrongdoing after a brief closed hearing at Pozuelo de Alarcon Court of Investigation No four last November.
He insisted he had left Spain four years earlier with the “information and conviction his tax situation was perfectly legal”.
Mourinho told reporters: “I answered, I didn’t contest it, I paid and I signed an official agreement with the state under which everything was definitively closed.
“That’s why I’ve been here five minutes today to say to the judge exactly what I’m telling you.”
First-time offenders in Spain do not normally serve jail sentences of two years or less.