Mourinho facing taxing times

Jose latest name added to Spain's list of suspects

MADRID - Jose Mourinho's advisers on Tuesday responded to accusations that the Manchester United manager failed to pay millions of euros in taxes to the Spanish authorities during his time in charge of Real Madrid.

The 54-year-old Portuguese, who coached Madrid from 2010 to 2013, has been accused of "two offenses against the public treasury", the prosecutor's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Officials claim Mourinho, who took the reins at United last year, failed to declare 3.3 million euros ($3.7 million) during his time in the Spanish capital - 1.6 million euros in 2011 and 1.7 million euros in 2012.

But a statement released by Mourinho's representatives Gestifute Media said he had not been informed personally of the accusations.

They also circulated a copy of a tax document dated July 3, 2015, which covers the period in question.

According to Gestifute, Mourinho, "paid more than 26 million euros in taxes, at an average rate above 41 percent and accepted regularization proposals from the tax authorities in 2015 relating to the years 2011 and 2012, and resolved by agreement his situation for the year 2013".

The statement also said Mourinho "received a certificate from the Spanish authorities confirming that he was up to date with all his tax obligations".

The accusations come as Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was summoned to appear before a judge next month, accused of tax evasion totaling 14.7 million euros.

The 32-year-old Portuguese forward is facing four charges of fraud through offshore companies between 2011 and 2014 and will appear before a judge on July 31, judicial sources told AFP.

The four-time world player of the year, who said last week his "conscience is clear", is threatening to leave Madrid over the affair, according to Spanish media.

Both Ronaldo and Mourinho are clients of soccer super-agent Jorge Mendes, who has been summoned to appear before the court at Pozuelo de Alarcon, just outside Madrid, on June 27.

Whistleblowing website Football Leaks has uncovered questionable practices supposedly used by Mendes to optimize often enormous earnings from his clients' image rights.

Media consortium European Investigative Collaborations has claimed that no less than 185 million euros ($206 million) worth of income has escaped the attentions of tax authorities using shell companies and offshore accounts.

Other clients of Mendes who have ended up in Spain include Portuguese fullback Fabio Coentrao - on the verge of joining Sporting Lisbon on loan from Real - and Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, now with Monaco but formerly at Atletico Madrid.

Falcao is suspected of failing to correctly declare 5.6 million euros of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while he was at Atletico, while Coentrao is suspected of a failing to declare 1.3 million euros.

In three years with Real, Mourinho won La Liga in 2012 and the Spanish Cup in 2011.

After leaving Madrid, he returned to England for a second spell with Chelsea before joining United, with whom he won the Europa League and the League Cup in the season just finished.

Spanish soccer has been rocked by charges of tax evasion or corruption against some of the biggest names in the sport.

Last year, Barcelona's Lionel Messi was sentenced to a 21-month jail sentence and fined 2.09 million euros for tax fraud.

Messi's prison term was suspended, as is common in Spain for first offenses for non-violent crimes with a sentence of less than two years.

Following a short trial, the 29-year-old Argentine and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were found guilty of using offshore companies to avoid paying taxes on 4.16 million euros of Messi's income earned from image rights from 2007-09.

Messi's Argentina and Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano was also handed a one-year suspended sentence for tax fraud last year.

Meanwhile, Brazil and Barca forward Neymar and his parents are due to stand trial for alleged corruption over his transfer from Brazilian club Santos in 2013.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 06/22/2017 page24)