Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo will appear before a court in Madrid on January over a £14.7m tax evasion fraud.
The five time Ballon D’or Winner was charged by Spanish authorities in 2017 over money owed from image rights.
This was after a shell company British Virgin Islands was used to hide parts of his income between 2011 and 2014.
“The accused made use of a corporate structure created in 2010 to hide from the tax authority income generated in Spain through image rights,” said a statement by prosecutors at the time the charges were first brought.
According to AS, Ronaldo who signed for Juventus in the summer will now be sanctioned to appear before the court to hear the verdict – which a be a two-year prison sentence.
He has applied to the courts to appear by video-link.
Spanish law dictates that jail sentences of two years and under are to be suspended for first-time offenders, pending the accused not committing any further crimes in Spain during that period.
Ronaldo’s lawyer, José Antonio Choclán, had lobbied the courts for the sentence to be commuted to a €375,000 fine – the same outcome as was negotiated for another of his clients, former Real defender Fábio Coentrão, for similar offences.That deal was rejected by presecutors.
Ronaldo has already paid up the bulk of the €14.7million which was outstanding in order to smooth over his move to Turin, and January’s court appearance will bring a close to the matter.
The final bill for the Portugal forward will ultimately top €18.9million once fines and interest are factored in.
While in Spain Ronaldo became Real Madrid’s highest ever goalscorer, netting 451 times after joining from Manchester United for a then-record £80million in 2009.Ronaldo is also Portugal’s most-capped player, with 154 appearances, and record goalscorer, with 85.
