£500m TOON DEALS ‘UNDER MICROSCOPE’
MORE TRANSFERS MAY BE SCRUTINISED
HMRC’S Operation Loom officers believe Newcastle “systematically abused the tax system and therefore all payments to agents made by Newcastle were potentially the subject of criminal proceedings”.
They revealed that the five cases of suspected fraud involving the Tyneside club may just be the tip of the iceberg of what could be set to become one of English football’s biggest-ever tax investigations.
Toon officials had challenged the legality of a series of HMRC search and seize raids in April.
But two High Court judges ruled on Wednesday that the warrants were lawfully issued.
The original thrust of Operation Loom centred on deals that brought Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Sylvain Marveaux, Davide Santon and Moussa Sissoko to St James’ Park between 2011 and 2013.
HMRC claim arrangements between Newcastle, football agents and players allowed the player to evade liability for income tax and employee’s NICS, and Newcastle to evade liability for employers’ NICS and to claim inflated VAT refunds.
Tax officer Lee Griffiths revealed in court papers that the extent of the club’s suspected evasion may be on a far bigger scale than first imagined.
Griffiths said in court documents that HMRC’S focus at the time was the