Lorenzo hits back at ‘nightmare witch hunt’

Five-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo has issued a statement in the wake of his most recent battle with Spanish tax authorities.

Having been cleared of tax evasion across the 2013-2016 period - which could have totalled a bill reaching €46m - the triple MotoGP Champion set the record straight on the strain the investigation had placed on him, especially during competition.

“In view of the recent news regarding the judicial disputes that I have faced against the Spanish Tax Authorities, I want to write you a few lines to give you my vision of what has happened,” Lorenzo’s statement read.

“As you all know, many years ago I decided to move to Lugano, a small but modern Swiss city barely an hour from Milan. I moved there, like many other athletes, because I needed the tranquillity that the town offered me when I wasn’t traveling halfway around the world and because of the possibility of training at the Yamaha team facilities (60 km from my home). And of course, I also appreciated the tax regime that it offers its citizens, much more reasonable and less aggressive and confiscatory than that of other countries.

“In June 2017, the Spanish Tax Authorities opened a tax audit challenging my status as a Swiss tax resident. The assessment ended up covering 2013 to 2016. Despite the fact that the Swiss authorities insisted that my situation was perfectly legal, the Spanish Tax Authorities always questioned everything. Thus, they sent hundreds of requests to my sponsors and teams, seeking not only information but also my discredit in front of public opinion, making me appear in the media as a tax evader. They even went so far as to send some agents to the paddock itself to force me to sign a document. These people blocked my exit