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04th Dec 2016

Authorities call for Jose Mourinho to be investigated after allegations of tax avoidance

Alan Loughnane

Huge news…

A collaborative investigation by a number of media outlets in Europe called the European Investigative Collaborations consortium, which includes The Sunday Times, have begun releasing the results of months of investigations into over 18 million financial documents.

The documents were obtained by German newspaper Der Spiegel and released under the name Football Leaks over the past number of days.

Their investigations recently alleged that Cristiano Ronaldo has been paying tax through an Irish company.

Now Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is under the spotlight as he is accused of moving millions of pounds of earnings through the British Virgin Islands to avoid paying tax.

The Sunday Times report that they’ve “found evidence suggesting that the Manchester United boss’s advisers misled the tax authorities in Britain and Spain during inquiries into more than £10m in earnings hidden through a Caribbean tax haven.” The use of offshore tax havens is not illegal.

Gestifute, the company of his agent Jorge Mendes, said in a statement that reports were unfounded.

“Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho are in compliance with their fiscal obligations in Spain and in the United Kingdom,” Gestifute said.

“Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho have never been involved in any legal process related to any fiscal crime.”

They added that they would pursue legal action over any insinuation or accusation of the same nature aimed at either of the their clients (Ronaldo and Mourinho).

“Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor José Mourinho has ever been involved in legal proceedings regarding the commission of a tax offence,” Gestifute said.

British MP Meg Hillier, the chairwoman of the Commons public accounts committee, labelled the documents “extraordinary and warrant a close examination by the UK tax authorities,” according to ESPN.