Sanchez spared jail as Herrera denies fixing
United striker is guilty of historic tax fraud Spanish midfielder faces inquiry over corruption
Alexis Sanchez escaped jail despite being convicted of tax fraud in Spain yesterday when, separately, another Manchester United player Ander Herrera denied wrongdoing in a Spanish match-fixing scandal.
The legal developments posed unwelcome distractions for Jose Mourinho although the Old Trafford manager will at least welcome the fact that Sanchez’s 16-month suspended sentence for tax evasion while at Barcelona will not impact further on United’s season.
In a statement issued by the Barcelona prosecutor, Sanchez was accused of defrauding the Spanish state of a combined €983,000 (£869,000) in image rights in 2012 and 2013 by using a shell company in Malta and omitting the earnings from tax returns.
The Chilean was given a suspended sentence of eight months for each of those years and fines of €353,000 and 237,000 euros respectively.
Spanish law is such that any sentence under two years for a nonviolent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.
Sanchez posted on social media a statement from his representative Fernando Felicevich which criticised Spain’s authorities for changing their criteria on tax returns and using the media to shame players.
“Despite proving Alexis did not commit any crime, we felt obliged, on the recommendation of our advisers, to accept the unfair pact offered to us to alleviate the emotional, personal and financial stress that comes from dealing with long and tedious court cases,” the statement said.
“Seeing the huge ordeals that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi etc have been put through, we came to the conclusion that it was best to accept this unfair deal so that we can move on and stop being the object of media and political pressure,” it added
Meanwhile it emerged that Herrera, 28, could be ordered into the witness stand with 33 other footballers in a long-standing inquiry over a ‘suspect’ May 2011 match between his former club Real Zaragoza and Levante. The midfielder issued a statement yesterday saying: “As I stated back in 2014 when this issue was raised, I have never had and never will have anything to do with manipulating match results. If I am ever called to testify in a judicial hearing, I will be delighted to attend as my conscience is totally clear.”
Spanish investigators have spent over three years looking into the match after it was alleged that Levante players received suspicious cash payments.