Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
Former Liverpool star Xabi Alonso has refused to testify in front of a judge after he was accused of defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of over 513,000 GBP.
Alonso chose not to testify in front of the judge at the Plaza de Castilla courts in the Spanish capital Madrid after he was accused of defrauding the Spanish state of 572,000 EUR (513,827) during 2013.
The ex-Real Madrid midfielder is accused of “ceding the rights of the use of his image” to an entity called Kardzali, a business that had a tax exemption until the year 2012, which is based on the Portuguese island of Madeira during his time with Los Blancos.
Picture Credit: Golders/@XabiAlonso
Reports say that this cession was orchestrated by his financial consultants Ivan Zaldua and Ignasi Maestre, both of whom are also under investigation by the authorities.
The Spanish prosecution claims that the contract with Kardzali was unnecessary as Alonso already had a contract for his image rights with Adidas since January 2009 and with Real Madrid from the same year. They claim the deal with Kardzali was instead used to hide his earnings from the Spanish state.
In 2013, Alonso reportedly received 1.2 million EUR (1.07 million GBP) from four different advertisers and he is accused of defrauding the Spanish Treasury of 572,000 EUR of the earnings from his image rights.
Alonso is currently being investigated for two complaints from the Spanish tax authorities, the second of which has seen prosecutors ask for a five-year prison sentence and a 4-million-EUR (3.5-million-GBP) fine for three counts of fiscal fraud committed in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Starting from the year 2009, Kardzali are said to have transferred a total of 5.9 million EUR (5.3 million GBP) to Alonso for the rights to his image a service that the Spanish authorities claim “wasn’t real” but was “sought after” in order to not pay taxes in Spain.
The second complaint is due to be taken to court later this year after the initial court date in January was suspended.
Alonso has rejected the accusations.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
