With Cristiano Ronaldo fighting tax fraud accusation, another Real Madrid player finds himself in legal hot water: Luka Modric. Whilst the Portuguese ace is likely to be handed a suspended jail term, the Croatian midfielder is facing at a possible five-year sentence.
The former Tottenham ace is under investigation back home after being accused of perjury. This accusation, which the Croatia State Attorney Office revealed, is in relation with a testimony Modric gave in the trial of Zdravko Mamic.
The Real Madrid playmaker is a key witness Mamic’s trial. Zdravko, a former chief executive at Modric’s former club Dinamo Zagreb, is under trial for alleged embezzlement and tax fraud.
Mamic, an unpopular figure in Croatian football, has also been charged with keeping a huge part of the transfer fee Spurs paid Dinamo for Modric to himself.
Mamic reportedly agreed to act as a benefactor to the midfielder for a share of Luka’s future earnings. There was an annex in Dinamo’s contract with the midfielder which stipulated that the transfer fee would be split 50-50 between the club and player.
When Tottenham completed the reported €21m fee for Modric, the majority of the €10.5m handed to the three-time Champions League winner ended in Mamic’s hand.
Prosecutors argue that the annex was only signed and backdated after the playmaker’s sale, something which Modric initially confirmed to be true. The 31-year-old has now backtracked on his previous testimony, claiming to have been confused.
“That… That I’ve never said…that it…that…that it was drawn up afterwards. I told you then that I couldn’t remember when it had been done,” Modric nervously said when presented with his previous statement (as per Bleacher Report).
"When speaking about that, I was talking about a personal contract between Mamic and me, which regulated the split of the transfer fee."
If found guilty, Modric could be handed anything between six months to five years behind bars.
