TOON DEALS EXPOSED IN TAX PROBE
CUSTOMS officials raided Newcastle United because they feared that evidence of systematic tax abuse could be destroyed, a court has heard.
HM Revenue and Customs officers executed warrants to search and seize documents over alleged secret payments made to players and agents. They swooped on St James’ Park, the club’s training ground and managing director Lee Charnley’s home in April. Charnley was arrested and later released.
Newcastle failed yesterday in their bid to challenge the legality of the warrants.
Leeds Crown Court was told how HMRC believed the club were knowingly involved in a ‘criminal conspiracy’ of tax fraud. They made specific reference to the transfer of Demba Ba to Newcastle from West Ham in 2011 — when Charnley was football secretary and Derek Llambias was managing director — for which agent Simon Stainrod was paid £1.9million by the club.
HMRC officer Lee Griffiths told the court: ‘It appears NUFC paid agents’ fees for club services of £1.9m in full knowledge that the majority would be passed on to other agents, including unlicensed ones, and to a company associated with the player, thereby bestowing on the player a benefit that would have generated estimated liabilities for income tax and NIC of £1,160,383 that ultimately would not be paid.
‘NUFC must have known they were using Stainrod to pass on money to third parties.’
HMRC claim there are ‘ further suspicions’ about Ba’s transfer to Chelsea from Newcastle in 2013.
Newcastle’s lawyers had argued there were other ways in which HMRC could have obtained information without the need for the ‘ draconian measure of a search warrant and the seizure of material’.
But Mr Griffiths stated: ‘ NUFC would be unlikely voluntarily to grant access to material which would show Mr Charnley and Mr Llambias were involved in systematic abuse of the tax system.’ He
said: suspected ‘ Given role Mr in Charnley’s the fraud, any warning of HMRC’s intention to recover the material would be likely to result in evidence being destroyed by Mr Charnley or others involved in the criminal conspiracy.’
The transfers of Sylvain Marveaux, Moussa Sissoko, Davide Santon and Papiss Cisse to Newcastle are also under investigation.
Following yesterday’s ruling, HMRC will now be able to examine the documents, computers and mobile phones which were seized.
Newcastle are considering an appeal.