Ronaldo says Ballon d’Or win clouded by fraud allegations

Christiano Ronaldo warms up during a training session at Mitsuzawa stadium in Yokohama on Tuesday ahead of their Club World Cup football match against Club America of Mexico on Thursday. (AFP)

PARIS: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo says his Ballon d’Or victory celebrations have been tarnished by allegations of tax fraud.
Ronaldo, who picked up his fourth footballer of the year award on Monday, says the allegations have been hard to bear for himself and his loved ones.
They also “partly spoiled the pleasure” of winning his fourth Ballon d’Or.
“It would be a lie to say otherwise,” he told France Football magazine in an interview published in part by the sports daily L’Equipe.
According to the reports, the Portuguese striker used tax havens to stash away 150 million euros ($160 million) he earned from image rights, an accusation he denies.
“Obviously this has not been good for me,” he said.
“It is hard not only for me but also for the people who are near me: my family, my son, all those who work with me.”
Spain’s tax office has ordered daily newspaper El Mundo to hand over documents related to its probe into alleged massive football fraud involving top players, the paper said Tuesday.
The paper is part of a group of 12 European news outlets that began publishing on December 2 the results of months of investigations into a vast trove of more than 18 million financial documents, obtained by the German magazine Der Spiegel and dubbed the “Football Leaks.”
The probe has centered on current and former players of the Spanish league such as Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, who won his fourth Ballon d’Or on Monday, and Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho, formerly of Real.
El Mundo said Spain’s anti-fraud office Onif had ordered Unidad Editorial, the paper’s parent company, to hand over “all information and documents with fiscal interest” related to the “Football Leaks” probe.
The newspaper said the anti-fraud office was seeking information on 37 people and bodies, including Ronaldo, his agent Jorge Mendes and his management company Gestifute.
Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema, FC Barcelona’s Brazilian striker Neymar and Arsenal’s German midfielder Mesut Ozil are also on the list.
Contacted by AFP, a tax office source confirmed the request for information had been made but did not confirm the names listed by El Mundo.
The newspaper’s decision whether or not to turn over the documents that were requested will “depend on the authorization of our sources,” El Mundo director Pedro Garcia Cuartango wrote in a column.
The first leaks unveiled as part of the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) journalists’ consortium centered on “a system” allegedly put in place by Mendes, the agent of Ronaldo and Mourinho.
They allege for instance that Ronaldo could have “hidden 150 million euros (from image rights) in tax havens in Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands.”
Both Ronaldo and Mourinho maintain they have fully complied with Spanish and British fiscal requirements.
Still, Spanish tax authorities are investigating the allegations where Ronaldo is concerned.
The EIC consortium, which is carrying out the “Football Leaks” also includes Britain’s Sunday Times and Portugal’s Expresso.