(NAPOLI TODAY) The Court of Cassation agrees with Maradona, Pisani: "Never been a tax evader. Persecuted for 30 years by the Tax Office"

The judges of the Court of Cassation have accepted the appeal of Diego Armando Maradona's heirs against his alleged massive tax evasion. The dispute was linked to the compensation paid by Napoli to the Argentine champion, who died three years ago, in the second half of the 1980s: in the payments of image rights to foreign accounts (in Liechtenstein) by two foreign companies, tax evasion was configured, at the time of 40 billion lire, then increased over the years to 37 million euros, more than half of which in late payment interest. But the tax section of the Court of Cassation (president Roberta Crucitti) accepted the appeal discussed by the lawyer Massimo Garzilli, who represents Diego Armando Maradona with the lawyer Angelo Pisani, referring everything to the tax commission of Campania, which will have to express itself again on the matter.

Lawyer Angelo Pisani, the Argentine champion's long-time defense attorney, commented on the ruling as follows: "The Court of Cassation has established that Maradona was not a tax evader, overturning every previous decision and ruling in his favor despite three denials that saw him as the loser, and also against the opinion, also negative, pronounced by the deputy attorney general of the Court of Cassation. The case can be considered closed since, according to the calculations, Maradona owes nothing to the Italian tax authorities, every operation, even mathematical as well as logical and fair, leads to zero".

Maradona was charged with tax evasion that rose from 6 million euros to almost 40 million due to interest and penalties. The Argentine, supported by Pisani, undertook a battle that was now won but of which he will never be aware. "The issue - Pisani is keen to point out - could have been resolved with the self-defense request that we presented in 2009. A request filed on the occasion of Maradona's return to Italy in Naples where we escorted him to avoid further seizures and instead rejected by the Revenue Agency and never re-evaluated by other judges". It should be remembered that in reality the tax assessment had already been annulled by the Italian Justice with an appeal by the Ferlaino-led Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli which also adhered as a precaution to a pardon to avoid any future misunderstanding. Who will now compensate for all the personal, financial and image damages, in addition to the history and values of sport suffered by Maradona for thirty years?".