RONALDO: I DIDN’T TRY TO DODGE TAX
Real Madrid superstar is accused of fraud linked to image rights
FOOTBALLER Cristiano Ronaldo told a Spanish judge he has “never tried to avoid taxes”.
The Real Madrid star was questioned yesterday to determine whether he committed tax fraud worth more than £13million.
Ronaldo spent more than 90 minutes answering the questions of investigating judge Monica Gomez.
According to a statement released by his public relations firm, the 32-yearold Portuguese forward told the judge: “I have never hidden anything, and never tried to avoid taxes.”
Ronaldo’s evidence was taken as part of a probe to determine if there are grounds to charge him.
In June, a state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 worth £13.1 million.
He was accused of having used shell companies outside Spain to hide income made from image rights.
The accusation does not involve his Real Madrid salary.
“Spain’s tax office knows all the details about my sources of income because we have reported them,” Ronaldo told the judge, according to his statement.
“I always file my tax returns because I think we should all file and pay our taxes.
“Those who know me know I tell my consultants they must have everything in order and paid up to date because I don’t want trouble.”
The prosecutor said in June that Ronaldo used what was deemed a shell company in the Virgin Islands to “create a screen in order to hide his total income from Spain’s tax office”.
He was accused of declaring £10.2million earned from 2011-14 in a tax return filed in 2014, when Ronaldo’s real income during that period was said to have been almost £38.5million.
They also said Ronaldo did not declare income of £25.4million, made from the cession of image rights from 2015-20 to another company in Spain.
Ronaldo told Judge Gomez his financial planning had not changed since 2004, when he was at Manchester United.
He said in his statement: “When I signed for Real Madrid, I didn’t create a special business structure to handle my image rights, I kept the same one that had been managing them when I was in England.”
Last month, former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was accused of defrauding £2.9million in 2011 and 2012 from income made from image rights. Mourinho has denied any wrongdoing.
Last year, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, were found guilty of defrauding tax authorities of £3.6million from image rights income.
They paid additional fines in exchange for suspended jail sentences.