The Scotsman

Ronaldo insists his conscience is clear amid £13m tax fraud claim

- By COLIN STEWART

Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be unconcerne­d despite being accused by a Spanish state prosecutor of defrauding the government of millions of pounds in unpaid taxes.

“My conscience is quite clear, brother. Always, man,” Ronaldo said yesterday at Lisbon airport.

Ronaldo and the rest of Portugal’s team are flying to Russia to play in the Confederat­ions Cup.

On Tuesday, a Span- ish state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 totalling €14.7 million (£12.94m). The prosecutor said Ronaldo used a shell company in the Virgin Islands to hide the true amount of income made from image rights, among other means of illegally reducing the amount of taxes he paid.

Ronaldo’s agent denied any wrongdoing and Real Madrid issued a statement saying that it was convinced Ronaldo “will demonstrat­e his complete innocence.”

“Real Madrid expresses its complete confidence in our player Cristiano Ronaldo, who we understand has acted within the law as far as complying with his fiscal obligation­s,” the statement said.

 ??  ?? 0 Cristiano Ronaldo: Accused of using a shell company.
0 Cristiano Ronaldo: Accused of using a shell company.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom