Pavarotti tax trial opens

Pavarotti's operatic career has spanned four decades

MODENA, Italy -- Opera star Luciano Pavarotti's tax evasion trial has started in his home city of Modena.

Italian prosecutors allege the tenor filed false tax returns from 1989 to 1995.

Pavarotti's lawyer Massimo Leone told the Associated Press the hearing was limited to technicalities and the trial was adjourned until September 17.

Pavarotti, who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary in opera, claims his official residence is the principality of Monte Carlo, a tax haven, rather than Modena. He also claims that his business core is not in Italy.

"We will present a series of documents and witnesses to show that the core of Pavarotti's business is not in Italy, but all over the world, from Britain to the United States," Leone said.

In a separate administrative battle over the same taxes, Pavarotti agreed to pay the Italian government more than $11.3 million dollars in back taxes and penalties in 2000.

Pavarotti lost a court battle in Italy in 1999 and was ordered to pay $2.5 million dollars in back taxes. The singer's attorneys had argued then that his primary residence is in Monte Carlo, so his income should come under the lenient tax laws of that nation.

But an appeals court ruled that Pavarotti spent most of his time in Modena, so he must pay Italian taxes. He is one of dozens of Italian celebrities and sports figures that have been under investigation for tax evasion.

Pavarotti also ended his involvement in a German tax-evasion case in 1999 by paying a six-figure settlement.

He and fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras were named in a tax-evasion case against Matthias Hoffmann, a German concert promoter.

Pavarotti will attend the trial in the future, Leone said.

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Luciano Pavarotti (Official site)

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