Manchester United manager José Mourinho accused of tax fraud in Spain

Spanish prosecutors have filed a claim against the Manchester United manager José Mourinho, accusing him of defrauding the tax authorities of €3.3 million (£2.9m) while he managed Real Madrid.

In a statement released on Tuesday, a prosecutor in Madrid said the Portuguese manager had committed two counts of tax fraud in 2011 and 2012, saying that “corporate structures were used by the accused in order to conceal revenues generated from his image rights”.

Mourinho failed to declare that income when he submitted his tax returns in the relevant years “with the intention of deriving unlawful benefit”, the prosecutor alleges.

A judge will decide whether the matter will go to court.

A spokesman for the Manchester United manager said: “José Mourinho has not received any notification with regards to the news published today. To this date, neither the Spanish tax authorities, nor the public prosecutor have contacted José Mourinho or his advisers who were hired for the inspection process.

“José Mourinho, who lived in Spain from June 2010 until May 2013, paid more than €26m in taxes, with an average tax rate over 41%, and accepted the regularisation proposals made by the Spanish tax authorities in 2015 regarding the years of 2011 and 2012 and entered into a settlement agreement regarding 2013.

“The Spanish government in turn, through the tax department, issued a certificate in which it attested that he had regularised his position and was in compliance with all his tax obligations.”