Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been found guilty of taking advantage of the tax amnesty in Spain and did not declare it to the Spanish Tax Agency. During his spell at Barcelona, he had a current account open in Andorra until 2012 and had benefited from a tax amnesty in Spain.
Guardiola had opened this account when he was at the Qatari club Al Ahli between 2003 to 2005. This was his penultimate association with a club as a footballer before moving to Mexican club Dorados. In 2008, Pep Guardiola took over as the head coach of Barcelona and remained in the position until 2012.
It was during his final year in charge of Barcelona when it was revealed that he had a current account in Andorra and had claimed the benefits of a Spanish tax amnesty.
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He regularised nearly 500,000 Euros, paying a levy of 10% interest on the amount he had generated over the years. While his legal representatives claim that the account was only used to deposit the salary he had earned at the Qatari club, Pep Guardiola found himself among a list of famed men and women, that includes former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
This prompted the Pandora Papers to include Guardiola’s name in their report. The Pandora Papers is a collaborative investigation report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have spent the last two years to analyse the offshore data of individuals committing tax crimes.
Pep Guardiola is one of the most successful managers in club football history, winning 32 titles across a splendid 13-year career. During these years, he managed Barcelona and led them to a treble, and managed Bayern Munich for three seasons.
In 2016, he made a stunning move to the Premier League, after which he became the only manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger to win the Premiership three times. He led his side to the Champions League final earlier this year, losing to Chelsea in a closely contested game in Porto.
