Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and his former manager Jose Mourinho have hit out at claims that they used arrangements in other countries to evade taxes that they would have had to pay in Spain.
On Thursday, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial had claimed that Ronaldo had invoiced most of the revenue he generated from advertising through an Irish company, in which his name does not appear. The company, Multisports & Image Management (MIM) Limited has been used by Ronaldo to avoid paying large sums of tax on his image rights, El Confidencial said.
In Spain, Ronaldo would have had to pay 43.5% tax for his image rights, but in Dublin, which is a tax haven for the rich, it is a mere 12.5%. Given that, it seemed sound for Ronaldo to do this.
But Gestifute, the management company run by Jorge Mendes, who is the agent for both Ronaldo and Mourinho, released a statement earlier today claiming that El Confidencial’s claims were false. Gestifute’s statement said that their clients had respected "fully their obligations regarding Spanish and British authorities."
In its statement, Gestifute complained of “insidious, disrespectful and threatening” questioning from the media over the tax arrangements of its clients, especially after the Panama Papers were leaked last year.
Also read: Messi Tax Fraud Case: Do Footballers live in a world without rules?
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney-client data for nearly 215,000 offshore companies.
Gestifute said that neither Ronaldo nor Mourinho would face any legal proceedings against them for now. Gestifute pointed out that in March, a large number of organisations attached to football were victims of cyber attacks, which led to sensitive documents being leaked. hey added that although such activities happened in a lot of European countries, the most notable victims of the cyber attacks were based in Spain.
The Portuguese’s superagent's company also noted that they will seek legal relief against any and all claims of tax evasion. Gestifute added that it had and would always act with the highest degree of professionalism in relations with its clients and all concerned authorities.
This latest scandal is the last thing that either Ronaldo or Mourinho needed. For Ronaldo, there is only the small matter of the El Clasico to deal with on Saturday evening, whereas Manchester United’s Premier League struggles under Mourinho have been well-documented.
Mourinho will be back on the touchline against Everton at Goodison Park after serving a one-game ban during the EFL Cup quarterfinal against West Ham United. Ronaldo meanwhile, will naturally be Zinedine Zidane’s biggest weapon against the old enemy on Saturday, in what has become the single biggest fixture in club football.
One can rest assured that the two Portuguese men will not let these allegations affect them and hope they can once again prove themselves, with what they do best – which is help their teams win games of football.
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