Atletico’s Costa given court date to face tax fraud charge

MADRID, May 29 — Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa is to face trial on June 4 for tax fraud in 2014, a court filing showed today, with prosecutors asking the Spain international to be handed a six-month jail sentence and a fine of €507,208 (RM2.5 million).

According to the filing, Costa defrauded the Spanish state of €1,014,416 by not declaring payments of €5,150,622 from his 2014 transfer from Atletico to Chelsea in his tax return, as well as more than €1 million in image rights.

The filing added that the prison sentence could be exchanged for an additional fine of €36,500, in accordance with Spanish law which allows penal sentences below two years for non-violent crimes to be exchanged for a financial penalty.

Costa, 31, who returned to Atletico from Chelsea in 2017, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Spanish prosecutors have won a series of cases against high profile footballers and coaches for tax fraud in recent years, including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho. —Reuters