UPDATE!!! Samuel Eto’o Finally Breaks Silence After Getting 22 Months Jail Term Over €3.8M Fraud, Says Its His Father’s Fault.

Afolabi Oyekunle.

President of the Cameroon Football Federation, Samuel Eto’o, has been sentenced to 22-month in jail.

His former agent, Jose Maria Mesalles, who he referred to as a father, was also handed a one year jail term.

But since neither of them has a criminal record, they will not serve time in prison.

They were given suspended prison sentences for tax fraud of 3.8 million euros between 2006 and 2009.

The former Barcelona ace, in a statement, has admitted and accepted responsibility for the offence and also promised to pay the fines.

He, however, placed the blame on Mesalles, who he viewed as a father at the time of the offences.

“It was my father who took care of the child I was then,” Eto’o said according to Marca.
“I’m going to pay but I’ve always done what my father told me I had to do,” he said.

The former African Footballer of the Year went ahead to slam a lawsuit against Mesalles, accusing him of fraud and misappropriation of his assets.

The matter is still in the investigative phase.

Mesalles refused to testify in court during the case when both men were punished, with prosecutors asking the court to give them four years and six months sentence.

However, their sentences were reduced to only 22 months for Eto’o and one year for his former agent.

They will pay fines amounting to almost 2 million euros. Eto’o was handed four fines for each offence.

And the Cameroonian’s fines amounted to 1.8 million euros, while Mesalles will pay four fines totalling 905,155 euros.

Eto’o fines came as a result of the former football star failing to declare income he made from the transfer of his image rights to Puma and Barcelona in his personal income tax return from 2006 to 2009.

Instead, he taxed the image rights through two companies – one in Spain and one in Hungary – in order to avoid being taxed as heavily.

Comments

Omisande: CPS Pensioners in Lagos State assured of payment of their increase pension benefits as their Federal counterparts.

By Afolabi Oyekunle. Pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS) in Lagos State have been urged to be patient concerning their much awaited increases, as there are assurance that all what they are entitled to will be paid earlier next year. This assurance is coming from the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Contributory Pension Scheme, NUPCPS, Lagos State Council, Comrade Michael Omisande. Comrade Omisande who spoke to ForumNews at the sideline of the end of year get together of Agege Zone Pensioners said what is delaying is the Template which is being awaited Comrade Omisande said just as the Federal workers who have started receiving their own entitlements, all Pensioners under the scheme in other five states will receive their own as approved by the Federal government. According to him, the PFA'S have been given till 20th December to pay all Federal Pensioners. He said after the completion of the Payment, PenCom will ther...

CPS Pensioners in Lagos state call on Gov. Sanwoolu, to expedite action on the payment of their Benefits.

By Afolabi Oyekunle. The delay in the payment of their Pension Arears and other entitlements is worrisome to the Contributory Pensioners in Lagos state, who called on Governor Babajide Sanwoolu to quickly take a decisive action to pay their areas and other entitlements as approved by President Bola Tinubu. Lagos state Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu. Speaking with FocusNews on the delay, the Lagos State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Scheme, Comrade Michael Omisande said the attitude of the Governor to the payment of the arears shows he has not got the political will to pay the money. Comrade Omisande challenged Governor Babajide Sanwoolu to come out bodily and tell the Pensioners when he is going to pay the money. Lagos State CPS Pensioners Chairman, Comrade Michael Omisande. "It is our money and he has to pay us, we are the birds that lay the golden eggs we should not be allowed to suffer." Comrade Omisande however appealed to ...

PENCOM pledges to see that Lagos State pays CPS retirees.

By Afolabi Oyekunle. Director General of National Pension Commission, Ms Omolola Oloworaran has pledged that the Commission will fast track and work towards Lagos State government paying retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme what is due to them like their federal counterparts. She made the pledge at a media workshop in Lagos for journalists. The Director General was surprised when she was asked why the Template for the payment was not released to Lagos State government for the payment of backlog of areas and allowances as approved by the Federal government, which Federal retirees are currently enjoying. PenCom DG, Omolola Oloworaran She thereby directed her staff to work on the Lagos State matter to settle the matter towards making the Lagos State government have all the necessary information needed to pay the retirees. The PenCom Director General noted that Lagos State government was one of the few states that keyed into the progra...

Search This Blog