Falcao makes 8m-euro payment to Spanish taxman

Monaco's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, suspected of tax evasion in Spain, has paid 8.2m euros ($9.3m) to Spanish tax authorities, judicial sources told AFP on Thursday. Falcao is suspected of failing to correctly declare 5.6m euros of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while he was at Atletico Madrid. The 31-year-old will be able to reclaim the sum if he is eventually cleared, the source told AFP of the payment which includes interest on the original amount.

Tercer entrenamiento de la temporada ☀️??

A post shared by Falcao (@falcao) on Jul 12, 2017 at 1:37pm PDT

He is suspected of using a web of shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Ireland, Colombia and Panama to avoid taxes on income from image rights. Falcao has not denied the existence of these companies but has said he had nothing to pay for 2013, arguing that he was no longer resident in Spain and so no longer owed any tax there. He has been accused of moving his tax residence to Monaco in order to escape the attentions of the Spanish taxman, before completing his transfer to the principality club in May of that year.