Footballer Gerard Pique handed 2.1 million tax bill

July 11, 2019 | 09:10

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Barcelona's Gerard Pique will be forced to pay €2.1 million (US$2.36 million) to Spain's tax authorities after his conviction for rights-image fraud was confirmed, a legal source told AFP on Wednesday (Jul 10).

footballer gerard pique handed 21 million tax bill

Gerard Pique joined Barcelona from Manchester United in 2008 (Photo: AFP/JOSE JORDAN)

According to a May 13 decision the country's National Court rejected Pique's appeal against the 2016 sentence which required the former Spain international to pay €1.5 million in tax arrears and a €600,000 fine.

The tribunal concluded Pique had faked the handover of his rights images to his Kerad Project company to pay less tax for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Pique, a World Cup and European Championships winner retains the right to appeal to Spain's supreme court.

The verdict comes a month after his wife, Colombian musician Shakira, was questioned by a judge near the Catalan city over alleged evasion of €14.5 million in taxes.

Her press team released a statement in which they said the artist was innocent.

The centre-back's former teammate at the Camp Nou Neymar is under investigation by Spain's fiscal authorities over a bonus he received at Barca as well as his world-record transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Another of Pique's fellow club squad members Lionel Messi, paid a €2 million fine in 2016 in his own tax wrangle and received a 21-month jail term.

The prison sentence was later reduced to a further fine of €252,000, equivalent to €400 per day of the original term.

A Spanish court in January handed Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo a suspended two-year prison sentence for committing tax fraud when he was at Real Madrid.

The player, who joined Italian side Juventus last year, also agreed to pay €18.8 million in fines and back taxes to settle the case, according to judicial sources.

Newspaper El Mundo reported in April authorities had accused Atletico Madrid attacker Diego Costa of fraud totalling €1.1 million related to taxes related to his image rights in 2014.

AFP

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