The French-Tunisian ex-soccer player for Sevilla Wissam Ben Yedder, today in French Monaco, has been sentenced to six months and one day in prison and to pay a fine of 133,798.70 euros by the Seville Provincial Court for a crime against Public Treasury, judicial sources reported on Tuesday.
The sentence, which has been reached by agreement of the parties - Prosecutor, private prosecution exercised by the State Attorney and the former player's defense - has been suspended conditional on Ben Yedder not committing a crime again within two years and in it, according to the sources, there is no pronouncement on civil liability "since it has been satisfied by the defendant."
The magistrates consider it proven that in 2016 the convicted person signed an employment contract as a professional footballer with Sevilla, which remained in force during 2017, "therefore being obliged to submit the corresponding income tax return."
The defendant, according to the sources, "did not submit the statement on time" despite "knowing his obligation" to do so and "include in it all his income", the earnings from work paid by Sevilla in cash, in kind for the payment "to the person who mediated in his signing", and the interests paid in the accounts as income from movable capital and those of "the exploitation of his image rights".
The court adds that, since the procedure to verify the presentation of the declaration began in January 2019 and the defendant was required to present said declaration, he "did not do so either", and it was only in March of that year, once the verification procedure had begun. limited, "when the convicted person presented a self-assessment with a result of 225,323.25 euros, an amount that he actually paid."
In the statement provided, the defendant "consciously falsified it by not including the interest received as income" in three accounts of which he was the owner, and which amounted to a total amount of 1,623.34 euros, "according to the sources.
The Court of Seville adds that the defendant "also did not declare as income from economic activities those received" from a sponsorship contract between a sports brand and an entity owned by the defendant as the sole partner.
The sources specify that this entity "does not have evidence that it had made an assignment of the exploitation rights of its image, but, on the contrary, it was constituted by it with the sole purpose of hiding said income and not paying taxes on them". According to the court, the income received in 2017 for this concept amounted to 79,429 euros.
The court also indicates that "the income omitted in the declaration presented determined that the fee to be paid was 267,597.40 euros, instead of the self-assessed and paid one", noting that, later, the defendant entered the Tax Agency 51,007.41 euros corresponding to the fee not paid with its corresponding interest.
