Kiwi link to Jose fraud

A New Zealand-based foreign trust was used to funnel image rights income for former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho who was convicted this week for a 3.3 million euros ($NZ5.5 million) Spanish tax fraud. A Spanish court heard Mourinho’s wife and children were beneficiaries of the Kaitaia Trust, a front company for Koper Services SA, set up in 2004 and 100 per cent owned by Mourinho. Mourinho, sacked last December as Manchester United manager, received a oneyear suspended sentence after pleading guilty in Madrid. An unnamed Spanish prosecutor told the Madrid court that Mourinho owned ‘‘one hundred per cent’’ of Koper Services SA, through the Kaitaia Trust, based in New Zealand, according to a report published by El Mundo newspaper.