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Mourinho accused of $5 million tax fraud

Spanish prosecutors said yesterday they had filed a claim against Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho on two counts of tax fraud dating back to his stint as coach of Real Madrid.

The Portuguese owes Spanish tax authorities 3.3 million euros (S$5.1m), a Madrid prosecutor said in a statement, adding it had presented a claim to a local court.

Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013 to manage English club Chelsea for a second spell before signing with United last year.

Prosecutors said he had failed to declare revenues from his image rights in his Spanish income tax declarations from 2011 and 2012, "with the aim of obtaining illicit profits".

They said that Mourinho had already settled a previous claim relating to his Spanish taxes, which resulted in a penalty of 1.15m euros in 2014.

But tax authorities later found that some of the information presented in that settlement was incorrect, the prosecutors said.

CLAMPDOWN

The claims against Mourinho come amid a lengthening list of tax fraud cases involving football stars in Spain.

Real superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been called to testify on July 31 in Madrid on allegations that he hid income from tax authorities between 2011 and 2014, according to a report in El Confidencial newspaper yesterday.

Real were not immediately available for comment on the allegations against Mourihno or Ronaldo's hearing.

Gestifute, a Portuguese-based football agency which represents Mourinho and Ronaldo, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. - REUTERS

Jose Mourinhotax