‘Never tried to avoid taxes’: Ronaldo tells Spanish judge

TIL Desk Sports/ Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, who appeared in a Madrid court on Monday in connection with a tax evasion case, told a Spanish judge that he had “never tried to avoid taxes”. Ronaldo has been accused by the Spanish prosecutors of defrauding the authorities of almost 15 million Euros.

According to a statement in Spanish released by his public relations firm, the 32-year-old Ronaldo told the judge: “I have never hidden anything, and never tried to avoid taxes,”.

Ronaldo is accused of defrauding Spanish authorities of €14.7m (£12.95m) between 2011 and 2014. As per reports, the prosecutor’s office, in a statement, said Ronaldo had knowingly used a “business structure” created in 2010 to hide his income in Spain from his image rights.

The alleged irregularities were in relation to money the Portuguese star had in the Virgin Islands, although officials acknowledged adjustments to this structure in 2014, where the player paid back an extra seven million Euros in tax. However, the 32-year-old denies any wrongdoing.