Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has paid the Spanish tax man £12.1million and accepted a two-year suspended prison sentence., Dailymail UK reports.
It appears the 33-year-old Juventus forward is wasting no time
clearing debts and cutting all ties with Madrid and Spain following his
transfer from Real to Juve. There are also suggestions he plans to pull
his business interests out of the capital.
Spanish radio station, Cadena Cope reported that Ronaldo has
deposited the £12.1m and will also pay a further £4.7m in fines and
costs. He will never have to serve the prison sentence because first
offences for administrative crimes involving terms of two years or less
are not custodial in Spain.
One of the primary reasons for leaving Spain has always been his
anger at tax authorities for taking him to court for fiscal fraud and
just one week after his departure to Italy he has wiped his debt with
the treasury.
The player is also understood to have put his £4.8m Madrid mansion
in the exclusive ‘La Finca’ neighbourhood on the market and is seriously
contemplating closing all his business interests in the Spanish
capital.
It is a dramatic cutting of ties that could include abandoning a hotel project in the city’s emblematic avenue ‘Gran Via’.
Ronaldo, in a joint venture with Portuguese company Pestana, had
gained a building license earlier this year to convert one of Gran Via’s
historic buildings into a 160-room luxury hotel with roof-top bar but
Portuguese media now say that project could be shelved.
Ronaldo has always protested his innocence against claims he
wilfully deceived the Spanish treasury by not declaring image-rights
earnings between 2011 and 2014.
He was furious at being treated like a criminal despite the fact he
voluntarily made attempts to put his tax affairs in order in 2014 by
making an extra payment of £5m.
He felt the prosecution’s accusation was a result of a difference
of interpretation of Spain’s complicated tax laws on image rights and
should not have resulted in criminal proceedings.
He was determined to leave Spain last summer but ended up staying
because Real Madrid refused to lower his €1bn (£890m) release clause.
With the prospect of a new contract he then settled on staying in
Spain and paying his tax debt, with the help of a new signing bonus, but
when Madrid’s contract offer arrived in January it did not meet his
expectations.
This summer they were willing to bring his release clause down and
with Juventus paying Real Madrid £100m he was able to leave. He will
earn significantly more in Italy, not least because the tax situation
will be far more favourable in Italy.
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