Xabi Alonso refuses to testify in tax fraud case

Former Real Madrid player and current Real Sociedad coach Xabi Alonso has refused to testify in his trial for tax fraud.

Alonso has not accepted any wrongdoing and has alleged crimes relating to a period encompassing the 2013 tax year, as outlined by Diario AS.

Appointed at La Real this summer, Alonso went on Tuesday to the Madrid courts of Plaza de Castilla as he stands accused of defrauding the state of a grand total of €572,008.

Prosecutors are demanding that the ex-Liverpool star be hit with a five-year prison sentence and a €2m fine over the incident, while a further three counts of fiscal fraud were alleged to have been carried out between the period of 2010 and 2012.

Alonso stands accused of working with accountant Ivan Zaldua Azcuenaga and Kardazli Commercial Services company director Ignasi Maestre Casanova to fraudulently sell his image rights “with the intention of obtaining an illicit fiscal benefit”.

Alonso denied any wrongdoing in March 2018: “I trust that this will end in good port even though it is going to be long, but I am convinced that I have always done everything well.”

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