FECAFOOT President, Samuel Eto’o has been sentenced to 22 months in prison by Spanish court for tax fraud. Samuel Eto’o had pleaded guilty to a £3.2m tax fraud relating to his image rights while playing for Barcelona.
According to reports, the football legend had failed to declare his income from the transfer of image rights between Puma and Barcelona. And this was between the years 2006 and 2009. With a sum that amounted to 3.8 million euros.
Samuel Eto’o appeared at the Ciudad de la Justicia court in Barcelona (a court in Spain) on Monday. According to the court, He must repay the money he owes, along with a fine of £1.55m.
The court heard that Eto’o transferred his image rights to a company based in Hungary which declared his earnings in that country, where the tax rate is one of the “lowest in Europe”.
Prosecution had asked for sentences of 4 years and 6 months for Eto’o and Messallesm Butt Eto’o was finally given 22 months and Messalles was given 1 year, because neither of them had criminal records.
“I admit the facts and I am going to pay what I’m due, but let it be known that I was a just a child then and that I always did what my former agent Jose Maria Mesalles, who I considered like a father, asked me to do at that time,” Eto’o told the court.
Worth noting that Eto’o will not serve any time in jail given that sentences below two years are rarely served in Spain. Eto’o will pay 1.8 million euros while Messalles will pay 900,000 euros in place of the jail term.
Eto’o is the latest in a long list of foreign players and managers to have been prosecuted for tax fraud in Spain. In 2016, Lionel Messi and his father ( his agent) were handed 21 months in prison for failing to declare 4.1 million euros between 2007 and 2009. Apart from Messi and Eto’o,Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho and Neymar have been victims of the Spanish tax system. They however paid a fine and did not serve the jail term.
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