The head of the Spanish Tax Agency argued in court that that the financial crimes of which Cristiano Ronaldo is accused, justify his detention.
"Sincerely, we have people arrested for not paying €125,000 in tax," said Caridad Gómez Mouelo, head of Spain’s unit for tax offences.
Mouelo’s statement was delivered at a hearing before the Spanish court on December 7th, which El Mundo has just reported.
Cristiano Ronaldo is accused of four tax crimes committed in Spain involving the concealment of €14.7 million and that this is rather more serious than a technical discrepancy, as claimed by the footballer.
Caridad Gómez Mouelo says that Cristiano Ronaldo hired top advisors and resorted to the use of tax havens and that his fiscal conduct was deliberately opaque.
El Mundo says the tax official’s statement demolishes the Portuguese player's defence as Mouelo argues that the use of the offshore company, Tollin Associates, was obviously to conceal money with a view to paying no tax on Ronaldo’s image rights.
In August this year, Ronaldo said that he never concealed his income and had "no intention of evading taxes."
In a statement read out to the press by his lawyers on August 1st, Ronaldo commented that the tax authorities have details of all of his income because he has never hidden his earnings.
"I always do my tax returns on a voluntary basis, because I think we all have to declare and pay taxes according to our income. Those who know me know that I ask my advisers to keep everything up to date and correctly paid, because I do not want any problems," said the Real Madrid player.
The Portuguese player clarified that the transfer of his image rights to a company he owned was done in 2004, well before he moved to Spain in 2010.
"When I signed for Real Madrid, I did not create a special structure to manage my image rights, having maintained the one that created in England. It was a customary structure in England, authorized by the Treasury and ratified as legal and legitimate," added Ronaldo.
The court in Spain would also like to know the name of the consultant who advised Ronaldo and set up this tax scheme, to accuse him of the same crimes as the footballer.
