The former African football superstar and now president of the Cameroonian Football Federation Samuel Eto’o owes the Spanish tax authorities nearly a million euros, his name appearing on the list of “Debtors” to the public finances, which published a report on Monday, December 27. “Eto’o Fils Samuel” owes, according to this document, 981,598.19 euros to the Spanish Treasury.
Entitled “List of debtors”, the document brings together thousands of individuals and companies with a “Debt greater than 600,000 euros” with the Spanish tax authorities, a threshold revised downwards compared to the old limit of one million. The list therefore includes more names, with a total of more than 7,200 in 2021 against around 3,400 in 2020. Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the tax authorities were not authorized to give more information, in particular on the origin of the debt, and could not say if Samuel Eto’o appeared for the first time on this list, whose criteria have just changed.
In November 2016, the Spanish justice had requested against the Cameroonian penalties representing a total of ten years in prison and a fine of 18 million euros, accusing the player of not having paid 3.9 million euros drawn of his image rights during his period at FC Barcelona. The 40-year-old former Indomitable Lions scorer, who notably played from 2004 to 2009 at FC Barcelona, was elected on December 11 at the head of the Cameroon Football Federation.
In September 2020, Neymar, the Brazilian star of Paris-Saint-Germain, had become the most ” bad payer “ of the Spanish tax authorities with a debt in the amount of 34,624,268.60 euros. The Public Treasury had not, there either, not specified what this debt corresponded to and if it was linked to his transfer in 2013 to Barça.
Twitter also appears on the list of major debtors with a slate of 800,795.01 euros. The tax authorities did not provide more details.
