The Court of Barcelona has acquitted the motorcycling champion Alfonso “Sito” Pons of the six crimes against the Treasury for which the Prosecutor’s Office requested a sentence of 24 years in prison for not having complied with his obligation to pay taxes in Spain between 2010 and 2014. In its sentence, the eighth section of the Hearing considers it proven that in those four years Pons, world champion in the 250 cc category. in 1988 and 1989, spent more than 200 days touring motorcycle circuits around the world and his tax residence was in Monaco, between 2010 and 2012, and from 2013 to 2014 in the United Kingdom.
The Prosecutor’s Office asked for Pons, who has been defended by the Molins Criminal Defense law firm and the tax attorney Iñaki Picaza, a sentence of 24 years in prison and a fine of more than 12 million euros for six crimes of tax fraud, accusation to which both the Spanish and Catalan Tax Agency joined.
The court, in its ruling, notes that during those years the former champion paid taxes in the countries in which he had established his residence: “As a taxpayer, he has declared income derived from employment and self-employment, as well as interest obtained” indicates the resolution. In addition, the Court of Barcelona sees accredited that the “most of the economic interests and financial assets” of Sito Pons as well as the “nucleus of its economic activity” are concentrated and located outside Spanish territory, “except for some properties located in Spain”.
In fact, during the trial, held in February and early March of this year, lPons’ defense alleged that the former pilot has lived abroad for 30 years, so he had not defrauded the Treasury during the years that he was accused of. In addition, the lawyers argued that the industrial warehouse of his team in Castellbisbal (Barcelona) was a “warehouse” where material, since its registered office is in London, where the former driver currently resides, who currently holds the position of manager of the Pons Racing team.
