If everything seems to be going well for Manchester City on a sporting level, still undefeated in the Champions League and leader of the Premier League, the club coached by Pep Guardiola is experiencing certain setbacks internally, accumulating extra-sporting problems since this date of February 6, 2023 when the Premier League has launched serious accusations against the Cityzens. We learned this weekend that the Sky Blues were now worried, due to the accusations made by Ukraine against Sheikh Mansour, owner of Manchester City and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates: “Sheikh Mansour is a particularly high-profile individual and, as the owner of one of the UK’s most famous football clubs, he is someone who should be subject to reasonable scrutiny by the UK Government ».
A law firm acting on behalf of Ukrainian activists has called on the British government to investigate alleged links between Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour and Russia: “For the avoidance of doubt, we make no allegations as to the particular conduct of Sheikh Mansour. Nevertheless, in light of the wealth of public domain evidence tending to link Sheikh Mansour to the accommodation of wealthy Russians in the UAE, we respectfully suggest that there is a prima facie basis for the UK Government to carry out an investigation.is written in this letter sent to the British Foreign Minister, James Cleverly.
A forced sale?
Last week, the British government said more than 1,800 people had been subject to sanctions under the regulations, in more than 1,600 cases since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This number includes former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. His assets, including Chelsea, were frozen after a consortium led by American businessman Todd Boehly took over the Premier League club last summer. The Minister of Foreign Affairs may only designate a person if he has reasonable grounds to suspect that this person is “a person involved” in the destabilization of Ukraine. Involvement is defined as a person who is responsible for, engages in, supports or promotes any policy or action that destabilizes Ukraine or compromises or threatens its territorial integrity.
If Sheikh Mansour were designated as an individual subject to government sanctions, it would disqualify him as an owner under the Premier League’s updated rules on testing its owners and directors, published in March. The British government must determine whether the owner of Manchester City helped Russian businessmen move their wealth to the United Arab Emirates during the war with Ukraine, and whether he helped these oligarchs find refuge there. The letter continues: “You are asked to note that, as noted in our previous correspondence, despite the robust nature of the British response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Russian oligarchs appear to have found a home for their wealth in the UAE , with Dubai and Abu Dhabi seem particularly attractive for these people”.
As a reminder, the UAE is preparing to host the Cop28 climate change conference between November 30 and December 12 and Sheikh Mansour is likely to play a “visible role” as the central protagonist of this event. A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed that it was aware that Russia was increasing its trade with third countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia and Serbia, to express their concerns. The primary goal of this engagement thus far has been to disrupt Russian efforts to secure critical sanctioned goods needed for weapons manufacturing. But in this enormous geopolitical picture, it is not impossible to see Manchester City experiencing a negative destiny…
