Spanish prosecutors are seeking a prison
term of more than 10 years for former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o
for alleged tax crimes committed when he played for the Catalan club,
BBC Sport reports.
In addition to a sentence of 10 years
and six months, prosecutors are also demanding a fine of $15.1m for the
four counts of tax fraud for supposedly defrauding Spain’s tax
authority of almost $4m from 2006-09, according to court documents
released on Thursday.
Prosecutors are seeking the same punishment for the player’s representative at the time, Jose Maria Mata.
The administrator of a company that
facilitated the deals, Manuel de Jesus Abreu, is facing more than six
years in prison and a fine of $2.3m.
Prosecutors also want Eto’o to relinquish any possible fiscal incentives for a long period.
Eto’o and his lawyers could not be
immediately contacted for comments, but in the past the player denied
wrongdoing, saying he was not directly involved in his tax matters.
Eto’o is among other current and past Barcelona players facing legal problems in Spain.
In July, Lionel Messi and his father
were sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud, although they were
not sent to jail because sentences of less than two years for first
offences are usually suspended in Spain.
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