Former Real Madrid Coach José Mourinho Accused of Tax Fraud

The Investigation Court No. 4 of Pozuelo de Alarcon (Madrid) has summoned former Real Madrid coach José Mourinho to testify as a suspect on November 3rd. This comes after a complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office, accusing Mourinho of defrauding 3.3 million euros.

Judicial sources have informed Efe that the Portuguese coach has been summoned at 10 am for the alleged commission of two offenses against the Public Treasury.

The judge made this decision after admitting the complaint from the Economic Crimes Section of the Prosecutor's Office in Madrid against the former Real Madrid coach for defrauding 3.3 million euros from his image rights.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, Mourinho would have committed two offenses against the Public Treasury in relation to the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) for the years 2011 and 2012, when he coached Real Madrid. The amount defrauded amounts to 3,304,670 euros (1,611,537 euros in 2011 and 1,693,133 euros in 2012).

Hacienda (Spanish Tax Authority) issued a report to the Prosecutor's Office, which shows that before September 17, 2004, Mourinho signed a contract transferring his image rights to Kooper Services S.A., a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

On that day, he signed a new contract transferring his image rights between Kooper and the Irish company Multisports & Image Management Limited. Four years later, the Irish company entered into a representation contract with Polaris Sports Limited, which had the same registered address, to seek and negotiate commercial contracts.

"All these corporate structures were used by the defendant to physically obscure the income from his image rights," emphasizes the Prosecutor's Office.

Mourinho signed an employment contract with Real Madrid on March 31, 2010, and moved his residence to Madrid, acquiring the status of a tax resident in Spain.

However, "with the aim of obtaining an illicit profit," he submitted his tax declarations for the 2011 and 2012 fiscal years on time without declaring his income from the transfer of his image rights.

On July 23, 2014, Hacienda notified Mourinho that his income tax declarations for the 2010-2012 fiscal years, as well as his non-resident declarations for 2013, were going to be investigated. They provided certificates issued by Global Directors Limited, which showed that Operating Nominees Limited held 100% of Kooper.

It was then that Hacienda noticed, in its settlement, that the undeclared income from image rights amounted to 3,249,521 euros in 2011 and 2,805,903 euros in 2012.