Entities set up in the British Virgin Islands by companies representing José Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo share the same address as two companies which are to be banned in their present form from providing loans to Premier League clubs, documents have revealed.
Over the weekend, the Portuguese agents company GestiFute denied that clients including the Manchester United manager Mourinho and the Real Madrid forward Ronaldo are involved in any tax evasion after a media consortium reported that they had used tax havens to handle tens of millions of euros in earnings.
Last week, the German magazine Der Spiegel published a photo showing an unassuming building on Tortola – the biggest of the 60 islands which make up the BVI – with a pharmacy downstairs. According to documents uncovered by Football Leaks, Vanterpool Plaza, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town is the registered address for law firm Icaza, González-Ruiz & Alemán and more than 100 entities linked to businesses around the world.
They include Koper Services, the company to which Der Spiegel alleged Mourinho “transferred his image rights in 2004” and Tollin Associates, whom it is claimed Ronaldo funnelled £63m between 2009 and 2014. In both cases, it is alleged GestiFute – the company owned by the “super agent” Jorge Mendes – transferred control over his clients’ image rights to two companies based in Ireland called Multisports & Image Management (MIM) and Polaris Sports, thus enabling them to pay tax at just 12.5%.
“Cristiano Ronaldo and José Mourinho are fully compliant with their tax obligations with the Spanish and British tax authorities,” GestiFute said in a statement. “Any insinuation or accusation made to Cristiano Ronaldo or José Mourinho over the commission of a tax offence will be reported to the legal authorities and prosecuted.”
The use of offshore tax havens is not illegal. However, less than a month after the Premier League confirmed it will introduce a ban on clubs borrowing money from unregulated offshore finance firms from the 2018-19 season, the address in Tortola is also the same as a company which made loans to five Premier League clubs between 2011 and 2013 and another which has provided funding for loans to West Ham and Everton last season.
Despite lending more than £150m against future broadcast money to Everton, Southampton, Fulham, Southampton and Reading between 2011 and 2013, Vibrac Corporation’s owners have never been revealed. In fact, Reading were fined £30,000 in 2013 because the Football League decided their loan from Vibrac contravened their rules but the practice has remained permissible for Premier League clubs until last month.
Greg Clarke, the Football Association chairman, was questioned over the situation by the Chester MP Chris Matheson in October’s culture, media and sport select committee on the governance of English football, with the Premier League confirming to the Guardian that clubs have now agreed to a new rule which will mean, from season 2018-19, that “any assignments of central funds can be made only to FCA registered lenders”.
However, while the new £5.14bn television deal has lessened the need for to arrange funding from companies like Vibrac – which historically charged around 8% interest but ceased trading in 2014 – West Ham and Everton have taken out as yet unspecified loans as recently as August 2015 from another company called JG Funding. In the past, that has been provided funds from another entity registered at the same address at Venterpool Plaza called Mousehole Limited, who Bloomberg alleged in 2014 is controlled by “a single anonymous investor” and have also arranged loans for a number of European clubs including Atlético Madrid, Espanyol, Getafe, Valencia and Hertha Berlin.
BCR Sports, another company with links to English football having provided funds for the purchase of 23% of shares in Everton by Bill Kenwright’s consortium through the American businessman Robert Earl, is also registered at the address.
There is no suggestion that any of the companies linked to GestiFute are connected to Vibrac, Mousehole or BCR Sports, other than sharing the same address.