Ronaldo keeps mum at court over tax fraud

Real Madrid soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo made no statements on Monday after appearing in court to declare on a tax fraud case.

The session with the judge was closed to the public but he was expected to make some statements at the end of it. However, the 32-year-old player left, and a representative told reporters he would not make any statements.

The situation had created a lot of expectancy and 125 journalists from around the world were covering the news in the capital of Spain.

Ronaldo was accused of hiding income from Spanish tax authorities, using a business structure created in 2010 to allegedly hide his image rights income in Spain between 2011 and 2014. The tax fraud would amount to 14.76 million euros (17.32 million U.S. dollars).

The prosecutor said Ronaldo declared 11.5 million euros while his real income from 2011 to 2014 was almost 43 million euros.

In June, the prosecutor's office said he had done that voluntarily in order to avoid his tax obligations in Spain.

Gestifute, the agency representing the player, denied the accusations, saying that "there has never been any hiding nor any intention to hide anything".

The agency explained that the case could be related to different interpretations of the British and Spanish tax systems about where to declare some revenues.

State prosecutor recently also accused former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho of defrauding 3.3 million euros in 2011 and 2012, while last year Barcelona's player Lionel Messi and his father were found guilty of tax fraud and paid to avoid jail sentences.