Today, Monday, a Barcelona court announced that former Cameroonian star Samuel Eto’o has reached an agreement with the Spanish judiciary, which is prosecuting him for tax evasion, to avoid jail time.
According to the agreement, Eto’o, who at the time of the events was wearing the colors of Barcelona, was sentenced to a fine and 22 months in prison, but he will not be deprived of his liberty, since the sentence is less than two years and he has no judicial precedents in Spain.
The court did not name the amount of the fine that Eto’o will pay, but Spanish newspapers reported that it amounted to 1.8 million euros.
Samuel Eto’o and his former representative José María Misais, sentenced to 12 months in prison and a fine, must pay the tax authorities 3.9 million euros instead of the evaded amount.
Prosecutors have sued Eto’o, who became president of the Cameroon Football Federation in 2021, for four misdemeanors committed between 2006 and 2009.
The Cameroonian striker wore the colors of FC Barcelona at the time, with whom he won the local league title three times and the European Champions League twice.
The prosecutor’s office confirmed that the player created a group of companies in order not to declare part of his income.
Ito transferred his rights to the image to a Hungarian company that announced profits in a country where the tax rate is “the lowest in Europe”. The second declared her taxes in Spain, but at lower rates than the income tax she had to pay.
Source: AFP.