Carlo Ancelotti has broken his silence on allegations of tax fraud by state prosecutors I. Spain, MySportDab reports.
The Real Madrid manager is under investigation and prosecution by Spanish authorities for falsely reporting his earnings at Real Madrid during his first stint with the club as manager from 2013 to 2015.
It has been alleged that he only reported his remunerations with Real Madrid covering his salary and bonuses while refusing to report on his earnings from image rights.
As a result, there were shortfalls in his tax remittances, as per the prosecution, who have now slammed him with allegations of tax fraud.
Reacting to the allegations after Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig in the Champions League round 16 second leg, Ancelotti insisted the allegations is a matter of legal technicalities.
According to him, he was not a ”legal resident’ at the said time in Spain and is innocent of the allegations.
“The tax authority says that I was a resident at the time and I don’t think that I was a resident. I already paid the fine, the money is with them, and now the lawyers are talking to try to find a solution. I’m convinced that I’m innocent, that I was not a resident in 2015, and they think that I was a resident. Let’s see what the judge says,” Ancelotti says.
The prosecution have maintained Ancelotti did not declare earnings related to image rights that reached 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million) in 2014 and nearly 3 million euros ($3.2 million) in 2015, and also omitted declaring two properties he owned abroad.
They said the coach ended up receiving tax refunds of nearly 40,000 euros ($43,600) for 2014 and 530,000 euros ($578,000) for 2015.
A four-year and nine-month jail term has been suggested by the prosecutors while the Italian European football veteran has mobilized his legal team to his defense.
