Tuesday 13 June 2017 22:29, UK
Spain's Prosecutor's Office in Madrid has filed a tax fraud lawsuit against Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo is alleged to have defrauded Spanish authorities of 14.7m euros between 2011 and 2014.
In a statement, the prosecutor's office said Ronaldo had knowingly used a "business structure" created in 2010 to hide his income in Spain from his image rights.
The lawsuit is based on a report sent to the prosecutor's office from Spain's tax agency AEAT, it said.
Prosecutors accuse the Portugal international of evading tax via a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands and another in Ireland, known for its low corporate tax rate.
In addition, they say he only declared 11.5million Euros of Spanish-related income from 2011 to 2014, while what he really earned during that time was close to 43m Euros.
They also accuse him of "voluntarily" refusing to include 28.4m euros in income linked to the sale of his image rights for the 2015 to 2020 period to a Spanish company.
Ronaldo denied through his representatives on Tuesday ever hiding any income from the taxman or committing any tax fraud in Spain.
"There is no tax evasion scheme ... There has never been any hiding nor any intention to hide anything," Gestifute, the agency representing the Real Madrid player, said in a statement.
