The National Court has imposed a sentence of two and a half years in prison on the former president of Granada Club de Fútbol and player agent, Enrique Pina, known as Quique Pina, for having defrauded more than 2.8 million euros in income tax (IRPF) between the years 2012 and 2016.
In the ruling of the Criminal Chamber, reported by Europa Press, the judges also condemn his sister, Elena Pina, to the same sentence as a necessary collaborator in the fraud, applying to both the mitigating factor of undue delays.
Furthermore, the court orders the two siblings to jointly pay 2,858,215.20 euros to the State Agency for Tax Administration (AEAT) for the unpaid amounts, along with fines amounting to 1.4 million euros.
The ruling establishes that Quique Pina did not file an income tax return between 2012 and 2015, and that the one corresponding to 2016 was filed in March 2018, already detained and after searches at his home and in his companies, including data that did not match reality.
According to the Chamber's criteria, the refusal to file income tax returns and to appear as a recipient of income was aimed at avoiding the Tax Agency seizing his assets due to a prior debt of three million euros arising from a previous tax procedure during his time at Club de Fútbol Ciudad de Murcia.
Instrumental companies and hidden assets
Pina presided over Granada from 2009 to 2016, a period in which he also developed an intense activity as an intermediary in the market for professional football players and as a manager of various football clubs.
"With the intention of obtaining an illegal tax saving, during the years 2012 to 2016, he intentionally concealed from the Tax Agency the income derived from his economic activity as a manager of football clubs, from his employment relationship with Granada Club de Fútbol, and from his activity as a representative and intermediary in all types of contracts for professional football players. To do this, he used instrumental companies and his sister," the ruling states.
The Chamber estimates the amount that the former leader of Granada failed to pay to the Public Treasury for income tax (IRPF) at 2,858,215.20 euros, highlighting that Pina was well aware of his obligation to declare with truthful data and to pay the corresponding amount, given his professional and corporate background.
The ruling details that Pina articulated "a careful strategy" to conceal his real income through the companies Calambur and Quique Sport, used as "instruments to hide his income and earnings," and that he had the necessary collaboration of his sister Elena to carry out the fraudulent behaviors.
The magistrates explain that the former leader managed to channel through Calambur the collection of his professional fees, as well as the payment of strictly personal and family expenses, such as those derived from his habitual residence or the salaries of the staff of his recreational yacht, in addition to other personal payments made with a bank card.
All these concepts, the Chamber emphasizes, were not included in any income tax declaration as earnings from work, professional or capital, nor as remuneration in kind or under any other category, without bearing withholdings or advance payments, nor appearing as such in the accounting of the paying entity.
High-end vehicles, a yacht, and the tax rate
The resolution adds that three luxury vehicles and a yacht of almost 24 meters in length were attributed to this company, "resulting, regarding those four movable assets, in an absolute confusion between the personal assets" of the accused and those of Calambur, of which, in those years, he was "the true real owner."
The court considers it proven that the vessel, registered in the name of Calambur by Pina, was partially financed through the delivery of another yacht and the payment of 300,000 euros from a bank account of Granada Club de Fútbol.
Pina, "assigning value to what was pure form, empty, merely instrumental, clung to the idea that what he earned with his sacrifice and skill had to be subject to taxation by the corporate tax (IS), and not by the personal income tax (IRPF)," explains the ruling.
The key to this operation, the magistrates point out, lay in the difference in rates: for the Corporate Tax, a 27 percent was paid, compared to a minimum of 47 percent in the IRPF. "The temptation was intense. The profit that could be obtained is evident, in this case: in five years, 2,858,215.20 euros," the ruling states.
"The accused, in his eagerness to evade the payment of fees, channeled the taxation where it did not proceed, which was the declaration of the Corporate Tax, and omitted any declaration for the tax that did proceed, that of Personal Income Tax, except for that of the last fiscal year and with delay," concludes the resolution.