Search icon

Football

02nd Mar 2018

Luka Modric could face up to five years in prison after being charged with perjury

The Real Madrid midfielder has been accused of false testimony

Darragh Murphy

Luka Modric has been charged with perjury by authorities in his native Croatia.

Modric is accused of making false statements at the tax fraud trial of Zdravko Mamic, the midfielder’s former boss at Dinamo Zagreb.

Prosecutors in Croatia claim Modric gave false statements in June 2017 in relation to his 2008 transfer from Dinamo to Tottenham Hotspur.

If found guilty of perjury, the Real Madrid star could face up to five years in prison according to a report in Spanish outlet, MARCA.

Modric has not been directly identified as the defendant however authorities named a “Croatian citizen born in 1985” in accordance with legislation and media in the Eastern European country have claimed the defendant is in fact the national team captain.

Modric ex-boss Mamic, as well as three others, were said to have been involved in an embezzlement scheme which saw them personally benefit from sales of Dinamo players.

Modric testified last June about his move to Spurs and the perjury charge stems from a discrepancy over the date on which he signed an agreement with Dinamo with regards to the terms for future transfer fees.

Prosecutors claim that Modric falsely said he’d signed the annex in July 2004 when, according to them, he actually signed it in 2008, after he’d already left the Croatian club.