Cristiano Ronaldo could be stripped of his knighthoods in Portugal according to the country’s president due to his recent tax-fraud sentence.
The 33-year-old was awarded the Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of Merit in 2016 after the team won the European Championship, along with being named the Grand Officer of Prince Henry in 2014.
However, he was recently handed a two-year jail sentence and ordered to pay €18.8 million for tax fraud by the Spanish courts.
That sentence was reduced to a fine of €365,000 along with another penalty of €3.2m, and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa admitted his honours could be revoked due to the conviction.
“The law is very simple: it is up to the chancellors of the national orders to see if anything has happened that could lead to the loss of an honour,” he told reporters.
“We should let those with the legal power to decide to do so and see whether the law applies or not in this case.”
One thing that is certain is Ronaldo will not lose the Madeira Medal of Merit bestowed on him by his home island of Madeira in 2014 according to regional president Miguel Albuquerque.
“Here in Madeira, Cristiano Ronaldo has always been seen as a good person … He is not a criminal,” he stated. “He is the most prestigious Portuguese in the world.”
