Mandaric hit with tax charges
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Your support makes all the difference.Portsmouth's troubles worsened yesterday with the news that the club's former chairman Milan Mandaric has been charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue. Mandaric, who is now chairman of Leicester City, will appear before magistrates next month charged with evading tax and National Insurance contributions on a sum of £183,000 which was paid to another un-named person through a bank account in Monaco. The charges relate to his time at Portsmouth.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mandaric will appear at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on 11 February. Mandaric owned the Fratton Park club from 1998 until 2006 before selling his stake to Alexandre Gaydamak.
A CPS statement read: "Milan Mandaric, the former chairman of Portsmouth Football Club, has today been charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue following a decision by the CPS Revenue and Customs Division.
"The charges are in relation to the payment of $295,000 [£183,000] from Mr Mandaric to another via a bank account in Monaco, evading the tax and national insurance contributions due between 1 April 2002 and 28 November 2007."
Portsmouth remain confident they will be allowed to trade during the current transfer window and are hoping the Premier League will decide today to lift their current transfer embargo, despite the club's current financial crisis. Portsmouth officials met the Premier League yesterday to ask for the ban to be lifted and for their latest chunk of television money, around £7m, to be paid to them.
Portsmouth owe around £10m in unpaid transfer fees to Tottenham, Chelsea, Watford, Lens and Rennes but the club hope they have convinced the Premier League that an injection of cash is imminent. One player Portsmouth manager Avram Grant is keen to recruit is Tottenham midfielder Giovanni dos Santos, who could be signed on a loan deal until the end of the season.
A Premier League spokesman said: "Portsmouth have provided the Premier League with new information regarding their outstanding debts to other clubs. The Premier League Board will now check the veracity of that information."
Redirecting TV money is allowed within league rules to protect clubs that are owed money from transfers. Portsmouth have estimated debts of £60m and face a winding up petition from HM Revenue & Customs. Dubai businessman Sulaiman al-Fahim bought the club in August before selling a 90 per cent stake to Saudi businessman Ali al-Faraj in October.
Portsmouth's executive director Mark Jacob insisted yesterday that Al Faraj can take the club forward, despite paying the players' salaries late more than once, a situation that was branded "chaos" by club captain Aaron Mokoena earlier this week.
Jacob said: "If you look at the list of creditors and the timeframe of the debts the club owed in September 2009 compared to January 2010, people will appreciate the efforts that the financial team at the club have made."
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