Ronaldo says his ‘conscience is quite clear’ amid tax case

LISBON, Portugal — Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be unconcerned despite being accused by a Spanish state prosecutor of defrauding the government of millions of euros (dollars) in unpaid taxes.

“My conscience is quite clear, brother. Always, man,” Ronaldo said Wednesday as he walked from a Portugal team bus into the Lisbon airport.

Ronaldo and the rest of Portugal’s team are flying to Russia to play at the Confederations Cup as European champions.

On Tuesday, a Spanish state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 totalling 14.7 million euros ($16.5 million). The prosecutor said Ronaldo used a shell company in the Virgin Islands to hide the true amount of income made from image rights, among other means of illegally reducing the amount of taxes he paid.