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He disappointed waiting media and fans when he arrived at
court via the back door. However, he said he would speak to the media after the
hearing, and journalists from some 20 countries waited for two hours in the 30C
heat for him to appear. But instead they were presented with his media
representative, Iñaki Torres, who was roundly booed when he announced that
Ronaldo had already left for home after the preliminary hearing, which was held
in camera. “He didn’t change his mind,” Torres said. “This was always an
alternative.” According to his lawyers, Ronaldo “didn’t break any laws, all he did
was follow criteria that the tax inspectors don’t like”. It is not a case of
fraud, they insist, but of a difference of opinion.
 |
| At the court. |
On July 11, a Madrid-based prosecutor’s office accused
Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud totaling €14.7 million (US$16.5 million). The
prosecutor said Ronaldo used a shell company in the Virgin Islands to hide the
true amount of income made from image rights, among other means of illegally
reducing the amount of taxes he paid. Ronaldo, who has denied any wrongdoing,
would face a large fine and a possible custodial sentence if found guilty of
hiding earnings from his image rights between 2011 and 2014.Inaki Torres, head
of communication at Gestifute, the agency which represents Ronaldo, told
Spanish media on Monday “everything is in order.”
“My conscience is quite clear, brother. Always, man,”
Ronaldo said on July 12 as he walked from a Portugal team bus into the Lisbon
airport. Also on July 12, Real Madrid issued a statement saying that it was
convinced Ronaldo “will demonstrate his complete innocence.” “Real Madrid expresses its complete
confidence in our player Cristiano Ronaldo, who we understand has acted within
the law as far as complying with his fiscal obligations,” the statement said.
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