Ronaldo pays €19m in tax case - Superstar cheat

Even in a week when Oxfam’s annual eve-of-Davros report underlined the ever-widening gap between the megarich and the other 99.5% of humanity, yesterday’s agreement by Portuguese soccer player Ronaldo to pay €19m to settle a tax fraud case seems remarkable.

Ronaldo, 33, had been accused of, over just three years, defrauding authorities of €14.8m.

Madrid’s prosecutor alleged he had used a shell company to “create a screen to hide his total income”.

The office said Ronaldo did not declare income of €28.4m related to image rights, and declared €11.5m between 2011-14 while his income was almost €43m. Sadly, Ronaldo may not be the only internationally celebrated tax cheat.

This raises many questions.

One must be about what kind of a society rewards an athlete, no matter how wonderful, so spectacularly? That question stands even if a career in sport is a just a stepping stone to a career in marketing.

Maybe Ronaldo should have based his affairs in Ireland where we are so flexible, so helpful to international entities’ tax-planning. He must be kicking himself that he didn’t.