Jose Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Radamel Falcao accused of being part of multi-million pound tax fraud racket

JOSE MOURINHO has denied claims he was part of a multi-million pound tax fraud racket.

The Manchester United boss, Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Monaco’s Radomel Falcao were accused by a French newspaper of being the beneficiaries of a tax avoidance scheme which channelled more than £100million through offshore companies.

Mediapart, which claimed its documents originated from the secretive Football Leaks organisation, claimed the trio, all represented by super-agent Jorge Mendes, had used companies in Ireland, Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands to avoid tax.

The French publication claimed its information was part of a leak of 18million documents which would be sifted through and published over the next three weeks.

While the initial claims were purely about Ronaldo, his agent Gestifute - run by Mendes - lambasted the “unfounded allegations” which the agency said were based on “stolen information”.

Gestifute then brought Mourinho into the picture by insisting neither Ronaldo nor the Manchester United have ever had any tax issues as all their financial dealings are correct.

The company said: “One newspaper makes the unfounded allegation that Gestifute, its clients and its advisers of having, directly or indirectly, created, organized or designed tax structures to facilitate tax evasion using tax havens.

“The most serious and malicious allegations in the enquiries relate to Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Furthermore, today news have come out insinuating a reprehensible conduct by Cristiano Ronaldo and questioning his good name.

“In this regard, Gestifute publicly states that: Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho are fully compliant with their tax obligations with the Spanish and British tax authorities.

“Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Jose Mourinho have ever been involved in legal proceedings regarding the commission of a tax offense.

“Any insinuation or accusation made to Cristiano Ronaldo or Jose Mourinho over the commission of a tax offense will be reported to the legal authorities and prosecuted.”

Sven Giegold, a German Green Party member of the European Parliament, said: “The tax dodging practices of football stars are a serious foul play against the common good.

“Tax avoidance of Ronaldo and other players is to the disadvantage of their fans and all other honest taxpayers. Not only on the playing field but also when it comes to paying taxes fairplay should be the rule of thumb.”