Jose Mourinho accepts suspended one-year prison sentence in Spanish tax case

Jose Mourinho was manager of Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013…

During his reign at the Santiago Bernabeu, it was alleged that the current Manchester United boss defrauded the Spanish tax authorities of payments totalling €1.9 million. Mourinho appeared in court in Madrid last November, and stated that the matter would soon be resolved after leaving the case in the hands of his lawyers. “It’s simple. I left Spain in 2013 with the information and conviction that my situation with the tax authorities was perfectly legal. A couple of years later I was told that they opened an investigation and they told me that in order to normalise my situation I had to pay X,” he said at the time. “I didn’t reply, I didn’t argue. I paid and I signed with the State that I’m in compliance and that the case is closed. For this I was just here for five minutes to tell his excellence the judge exactly what I’ve told you. Nothing else.” It was reported in May that Mourinho had agreed an ‘out-of-court settlement’, but the final details of the hearing have now been published by El Mundo. According to the Spanish newspaper, ‘Mourinho will accept in writing that he concealed from the Treasury his income for image rights corresponding to the years 2011 and 2012. ‘[This will] entail a six-month prison sentence for each one of the crimes against the Public Treasury and a fine that will amount to 60% of the fee defrauded.” Mourinho’s sentence is suspended as the Spanish justice system doesn’t usually require first-time offenders to serve jail sentences of two years or less. The United boss isn’t the first football personality to be investigated by the Spanish tax authorities. In February, former Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez, who now plays under Mourinho at Old Trafford, was served a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud, while Cristiano Ronaldo was fined nearly £17m in a similar case. The outcome of Mourinho’s hearing ensures he will be present in the dugout for United’s next Premier League fixture against Watford on September 15.