At least one club in ‘dirty’ money probe, says minister

AT LEAST one professional football club is under investigation for alleged money laundering, a Government minister said yesterday. Ben Wallace, security minister, told MPs that the sports industry ‘is as susceptible as anything else’ to being used to hide the source of ‘dirty’ money. At the Treasury Select Committee, Wallace admitted clubs could be vulnerable to crime and said authorities have not done enough to report suspicious activity. Asked by Labour MP John Mann how many professional football clubs have been deemed as requiring investigation, Wallace said: ‘I know of a professional football club or clubs under investigation. I couldn’t reveal how many and what they are. That is an operational matter.’ Pressed on numbers, Wallace added: ‘There are live investigations... to expand any more could threaten investigations. ‘The sports industry is as susceptible as anything else to dirty money being invested or their organisations being used as a way to launder money.’ He added that reporting suspicious activity should be made ‘by anyone’ and not just banks. He said ‘not enough’ had come from football authorities. A spokesman for the National Crime Agency said: ‘We do not routinely confirm or deny the existence of investigations.’ Football has long been regarded as being vulnerable to money laundering. In 2009, a report by the international Financial Action Task Force suggested that the sport could be targeted because it involves large sums crossing national borders, making the origins of the cash harder to trace. Earlier this month, authorities in Belgium raided a number of top-flight clubs and charged 19 people with offences linked to alleged money laundering and match-fixing.