Laurence Dollimore
ARSENAL FC forward Alexis Sanchez has been accused of defrauding Spain’s public purse of €983,443.
Similar to Lionel Messi’s case earlier this year, it is Sanchez’s income from the sale of image rights that has come under scrutiny.
Between 2012 and 2013, when he was playing for Barcelona, Sanchez ceded his image rights to what Spanish authorities believe is an instrumental company in Malta in a bid to avoid declaring tax on the image rights in Spain.
Sanchez’s agent Fernando Felicevich said: “Alexis Sanchez has perfectly obeyed every one of the laws imposed by the countries where he has resided.
“We ask the press and public at large for the upmost respect until the completion of the ongoing administrative and judicial process.”
Lionel Messi and his father were sentenced to 21 months this July for a similar tax fraud involving €4.16 million.
The pair have appealed the decision but are unlikely to see a jail cell as terms under two years in Spain are usually suspended.
