March 22 – The crackdown by Spanish authorities to prevent elite footballers getting even richer by beating the tax system has struck again, with former Liverpool and Real Madrid star Xabi Alonso facing a possible five-year jail term after being accused of fraud.
Prosecutors say Alonso, who retired from football at 36 at the end of last season owes nearly €2 million in tax related to earnings after allegedly failing to disclose the full amount he was paid in image rights during his time at Real Madrid from 2010 to 2012. He denies any wrongdoing.
The same sentence is being sought for the player’s financial adviser, Ivan Zaldua, as well as the chief of the Portuguese company he allegedly used to avoid tax.
Prosecutors are also seeking a fine of €4 million and demanding Alonso pays back the sum that was allegedly denied to the Spanish tax office.
The case was originally dismissed but the Madrid court in charge of the investigation reopened it in 2017 and said the allegations against Mr Alonso had been “sufficiently substantiated”.
The midfielder, who joined Real Madrid in 2009, is the latest in a string of footballers to be pursued by the Spanish tax authorities.
Last month Manchester United striker Alexis Sanchez accepted a 16-month suspended jail sentence for tax fraud in return for avoiding a trial after being accused of using a company based in Malta to receive image rights
Several other star footballers have been accused of tax fraud in Spain, most notably Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, while former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell is currently in jail following a money-laundering investigation.
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