Former Real Madrid President Lorenzo Sanz given 3-year sentence for tax avoidance

MADRID, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz was condemned to three years in jail for tax offenses by the Madrid Provincial Court on Wednesday.

The 75-year-old, who presided over the club between 1995 and 2000, when he lost the elections for the club presidency to current Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez, was found guilty of "deliberately hiding" almost 6 million euros (1 euro=1.14 US dollars) from Spanish tax authorities in his 2008 and 2009 tax declarations.

Sanz and his wife have also been condemned to pay a fine of 622,411 euros.