Antalyaspor of Turkey football star Samuel Eto'o faces up to 10 years
imprisonment and a huge €14m fine for tax crimes committed while he
played in Spain.
According to Spanish paper, El Pais,
the Cameroon footballer's alleged tax crimes date from 2006 to 2009
when he played for Barcelona, and he managed to defraud the Spanish
government of about 3.5 million euros through an illegal, well crafted
structure for his image rights.
According to
the report, 35 year old Eto'o, started two companies, one in Spain
called Bulte opened in 2002 and one in Hungary called Tradesport which
allowed him to cleverly divert his image rights and avoid paying for tax
. He also through the company structure, allegedly avoided paying tax
for the huge money (about 1.5 and 3 million euros a season) he received
from his sponsorship with sportswear giants Puma.
Spanish prosecutors are demanding Eto'o be fined around £12m (€14m), as well a 10 year imprisonment term.
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