Top football manager in court on tax evasion charges

26 January 2012

Harry Redknapp, now manager of leading london football club Tottenham Hotspur, is on trial this week for allegedly receiving nearly GBP200,000 of undeclared payments from his former boss at Portsmouth Football Club.

The payments were alleged to be commission for transfers of two star players, Peter Crouch and Rio Ferdinand.

The prosecution claims that former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric made the transfers via an HSBC bank account set up by Redknapp Monaco in 2002. Redknapp is alleged to have concealed the existence of this account - opened in his dog's name - for six years, and only revealed it to HM Revenue & Customs after he had been arrested in 2008.

The investigation has been a long one. In the course of it HMRC has been found guilty of raiding Redknapp's home without a lawful warrant, though it only had to pay him a trivial sum in compensation.

Redknapp and Mandaric deny charges of cheating the public revenue. The case continues (26 January 2012).

Sources

Accountancy Age

Telegraph

Guardian

Accounting Web

Business Week