The Madrid Public Prosecutor's Office has requested a four-year prison sentence for tax fraud for hotel entrepreneur Kike Sarasola - president of Room Mate Hoteles - for not having declared to the Treasury party the inheritance left by his father in a tax haven. The Public Ministry requests the same conviction for his brother Fernando - known as Gigi and former Olympic rider - and his mother, Cecilia Marulanda. In addition, for each brother the Prosecutor's Office claims four million fine and 916,000 euros for unpaid fees. In the case of the mother, the fine amounts to 10 million and the pending taxes, to 12.3.

The indictment of the area of ​​Economic Crimes of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office recounts what happened in 2012 with the company Hipódromos y Caballos SA after the death of Enrique Sarasola Lerchundi, businessman known for his great friendship with the former president of the Government Felipe González. The Prosecutor's Office explains that the company - through which the Madrid Racecourse managed - belonged to Sarasola Lerchundi, her children and a Dutch company that in turn was owned by another company in the tax haven of the Netherlands Antilles. This last society belonged to the marriage, which in this way was the one who controlled an "opaque structure" aimed at evading the Spanish Treasury.

When the employer died, neither the widow nor the children declared that they had inherited it, which led to a tax fraud on her personal income tax and their Corporate Income Tax. The heirs were able to hide the ownership of Hipódromos y Caballos SA - valued at 26.3 million - because their father had foreseen that the shares of the Netherlands Antilles society would be available to a Panamanian foundation. He did it "in order to hide part of his assets and to articulate the transfer of his assets to his heirs upon his death." "None of the defendants declared the acquisition of these actions by way of inheritance in the Inheritance and Donations Tax, both having formally renounced their father's inheritance in Spanish territory," the prosecutor concludes.

A sentence of four years in prison would mean the effective entry into prison. However, the payment of financial responsibilities before the end of the trial would facilitate a reduction of the penalty, or a suspension of the execution of the penalty.

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  • Personal income tax
  • Felipe Gonzalez
  • Tax crimes

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