Mendes told a closed-door hearing in Madrid that he never advised his clients on tax matters, his company Gestifute said in a statement.
Mendes added that “as an agent he is limited to representing athletes in their negotiations with clubs to determine salary conditions in their contracts,” the statement added.
The agent gave evidence at the hearing into alleged tax evasion by Monaco striker Radamel Falcao, one of his clients, who is accused of defrauding Spain’s tax authorities out of €5.5m (£4.7m, $6.2m).
Falcao allegedly hid some of his personal income on tax statements by setting up two corporate structures – a Colombia-based business named Business Tiger and another in the British Virgin Islands called Fardey Overseas with the aim of hiding image rights income.
The case relates to income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while the Columbian footballer played for Atletico Madrid.
Falcao denies any wrongdoing.
Football and tax evasion
Falcao is one of a string of football stars targeted by Spain’s crackdown on tax evasion which has engulfed the sport’s biggest names including Christiano Ronaldo and legendary manager Jose Mourinho, both clients of Mendes.
32-year-old Portugal captain Ronaldo is set to be questioned by a Spanish judge over allegations he illegally evaded €14.7m in taxes. Ronaldo has also denied any wrongdoing.
Gestifute has said Mourinho resolved the situation with the tax authorities, which accused him earlier this month of evading €3.3m in tax.
Another of Mendes’ clients, 29-year-old Paris St-Germain winger Angel di Maria agreed to pay €2m to settle a tax case last week.
Meanwhile, Spanish prosecutors said earlier this week that they are open to striking a deal with Barcelona player Lionel Messi to swap his 21-month prison sentence for tax fraud with a €255,000 fine.
Football leaks
Mendes found himself in the eye of the storm last year in the “Football Leaks” media investigation into alleged soccer corruption.
Based on millions of documents, the investigation claims he offered his clients ways to avoid paying taxes on some of the money they earned.
According to a group of 12 European newspapers, the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) consortium, Mendes helped them evade a total of €185m in advertising revenues “via a network of shell companies and offshore accounts in Ireland, in the British Virgin Islands, Panama and Switzerland.”
To do so Mendes allegedly used Irish firm Polaris, an accusation he denied in court on Tuesday.
The refuted the allegation, telling the hearing that Polaris “is not managed by him and is dedicated exclusively to finding advertisers for clients,” the Gestifute statement said.
“Neither Jorge Mendes nor the company he manages, Gestifute, participate in or offer any service linked, directly or indirectly, to financial, fiscal or legal advice to their clients,” the firm said earlier this month.
