The chair of an influential committee of MPs has called on the UK tax authorities to investigate the financial affairs of the Manchester United manager, José Mourinho, after it was claimed millions of pounds were moved offshore to avoid tax.
An investigation, based on a leak of more than 18m documents, claims that Mourinho’s advisers may have helped him avoid paying tax on earnings from the use of his image rights for product endorsement – something which has been strongly denied.
The European Investigative Collaborations consortium – which worked alongside several newspapers including Germany’s Der Spiegel and the Sunday Times – claims to have found evidence suggesting tax officials in Britain and Spain had been misled by Mourinho’s advisers.
Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo is also cited in the reports as having allegedly moved money to a tax haven in the British Virgin Islands in what the Sunday Times described as “highly aggressive tax avoidance”.
Meg Hillier, chair of the public accounts committee, said on Sunday: “These revelations are extraordinary and warrant a close examination by the UK tax authorities.”
Lopez Milla of the Spanish parliament’s tax committee had called for the case to be reopened to “investigate whether Mourinho has committed the criminal offence of tax fraud”.
Gestifute, which provides “career management” for sporting professionals, has rejected the allegations.
The firm, founded by agent Jorge Mendes, said in a statement: “One newspaper makes the unfounded allegation that Gestifute, its clients and its advisers of having, directly or indirectly, created, organised or designed tax structures to facilitate tax evasion using tax havens. The most serious and malicious allegations in the inquiries relate to José Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It added: “Both Cristiano Ronaldo and José Mourinho are fully compliant with their tax obligations with the Spanish and British tax authorities. Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor José Mourinho have ever been involved in legal proceedings regarding the commission of a tax offence.
“Any insinuation or accusation made to Cristiano Ronaldo or José Mourinho over the commission of a tax offence will be reported to the legal authorities and prosecuted.”
Der Spiegel, which was originally passed the documents from whistleblowing outlet Football Leaks, said the files uncovered include photographs, spreadsheets and emails. It said more revelations would be published in the coming weeks, giving “an unprecedented look into the gloomy depths of the modern football industry”.
An HMRC spokesman said: “HMRC carefully scrutinises the arrangements between football clubs and their employees in respect of any image right payments to make sure the right tax is paid. In recent years we have identified more than £80m in additional tax payable from clubs, players and agents.
“We take seriously allegations that customers or their agents may have acted dishonestly in the course of an enquiry, and can reopen closed cases if we suspect this has happened.”