After his fabulous hat-trick this season, Manchester City must quickly come back down to earth. The champion of Europe and England is the subject of serious accusations of fraud by the Premier League, which wonders in particular about a double payment estimated at 35 million euros in total.
Manchester City is not out of the woods. On cloud nine after their successful hat-trick this season, the Citizens are still facing the Premier League investigation. The English body brought 115 charges of financial settlement fraud over nine seasons. According to information from the Times, the irregularities noted relate in particular to a double payment received, for a total of 35 million euros recorded in 2012 and 2013. For UEFA, it is simply a “ disguised equity financing orchestrated by the owners of Manchester City.
🔺 NEW: A mystery figure from the United Arab Emirates paid Manchester City £30 million to cover sums that were supposed to have come from one of their main sponsors, a leaked Uefa report has revealedhttps://t.co/JHJdgkToeb
— Times Sport (@TimesSport) June 29, 2023
Basically, the Emirati leaders are suspected of having bailed out the club’s coffers through a sponsor. It must be said that the partner of Skyblues, the company Etisalat, is a telecommunications company from the United Arab Emirates. To defend themselves, Manchester City says it has called on a certain Jaber Mohamed, who works ” in the field of providing financial and brokerage services to business entities in the Emirates “, and who would have reimbursed the club in 2015. This would explain the suspicious payments.
Man City’s explanations don’t pass
Not enough to reassure UEFA, which wonders why Manchester City would need to solicit ” financial assistance from a broker to pay for Etisalat’s sponsorship commitments “. The body rather suspects the English champion of having circumvented the rules of the Premier League which limits the possibility for owners to inject money into the coffers of their club, when there is no ceiling. regarding sponsors. Recall that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had not pronounced any sanction against Manchester City, the payments cited having exceeded the limitation period.
