Follow-up – WAA
A French court has sentenced former France international striker Djibril Cisse in absentia to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of €100,000 for money laundering stemming from tax fraud in Bastia.
The 43-year-old former Liverpool, Marseille and Al-Gharafa player is suspected, in particular, of money laundering through tax fraud, misuse of corporate assets and omission of accounting entries.
Bastia prosecutor Jean-Philippe Navarre has called for Cisse to be acquitted of the tax fraud offences initially targeted by prosecutors.
A company in Furiani, Cisse’s former residence in Corsica when he played for Sporting Bastia, is being investigated.
While the company was liquidated by court order in 2020, the current account linked to it remained in debt of €550,000, which according to the accusation constitutes a misuse of its assets.
The investigation considers that the former player, who was the top scorer in the French league in the 2001-2002 season, did not report this amount to the tax administration, which is a characteristic of money laundering as a result of tax fraud.
“He transferred the money to his bank accounts,” the prosecutor said.
The investigation also indicates an amount of 230,000 euros due for failure to declare VAT and corporate tax.
For defence lawyer Malcolm Moldaya, the small business was used to manage income related to Djibril Cisse’s image while he retrained as a DJ and TV football analyst.
“He has been dealing with this for years. He owes huge sums of money to the tax administration. There can be no money laundering because there is no tax fraud. He had difficulties with the accounting firm that did not manage the file well and did not inform him,” Moldaya said.