Marveaux first player arrested in tax fraud investigation

Ex-Newcastle midfielder questioned in France HMRC officers pay visit to British agent’s home

The first player arrested in connection with the cross-Channel fraud inquiry into Premier League transfers was named yesterday as Sylvain Marveaux, the former Newcastle United midfielder.

As the seriousness of Wednesday’s unprecedented wave of raids and arrests by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and its French counterpart began to sink in, more details emerged about the action taken against suspected“secret payments” to players and agents totalling £5million.

Police sources confirmed that Marveaux was one of four people held in custody as part of an investigation which has also engulfed West Ham United and Chelsea, and is claimed to have involved organised crime.

The 31-year-old was arrested along with “three agents of players” during Wednesday’s coordinated operation, before being released yesterday. That was in addition to “several” arrests made by HMRC in the UK, including that of Mike Ashley’s right-hand man at Newcastle, Lee Charnley, who was released that same evening.

can also reveal that HMRC questioned wellknown British agent Barry Silkman on Wednesday, visiting his home and asking to examine his mobile phone and iPad.

Silkman insisted that he was not asked about his own tax affairs – which he declared to be in order – but was quizzed instead about his knowledge of other individuals. He refused to reveal their identities, but nevertheless made the extraordinary claim that one was a “massive businessman” with a company “worth £250million, £300million”.

He also said he knew of other agents approached in recent days by HMRC, which last night refused to confirm or deny his allegations.

The latest developments were also met by silence from Marveaux’s current club, Lorient, whom he joined last summer after five years at Newcastle. The former France Under-21 international had started just 26 games and scored twice before a loan to Guingamp in 2014 heralded the end of his spell at St James’ Park.

Upon signing for Lorient, he described his time in England as “a failure”.

Newcastle scout Graham Carr, the father of television comedian Alan Carr, was also bracing himself for a knock on the door by HMRC. Carr, who has recommended a string of players to the club, told

“They probably will be in touch with me. I’m here and I’m not hiding anything.”

The newspaper reported that one of the deals thought to be under scrutiny was Demba Ba’s 2011 move from West Ham to Newcastle.

According to French police sources, former European champions Marseille were the focus of ongoing inquiries, having been the subject of a long-running probe. Among the players to move between them and either West Ham or Newcastle in recent years have been Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin, Rémy Cabella and Alou Diarra.

Silkman, meanwhile, said of the HMRC’s visit to his home that the meeting lasted a matter of minutes and that he was asked specifically about two individuals, one he claimed not to know and the other he had done no business with.

Accusing HMRC of failing to understand how the transfer market works, he said: “I thought it was strange they asked me because he’s not a big agent, it’s not his main job, because he does it as a hobby.

“He’s got a huge business. He’s got a family. He’s got a business worth £250 million, £300 million. He knows so many people in football because he’s a massive businessman that, every now and again, he puts a deal together.”

HMRC was silent yesterday, having said nothing beyond a short statement after Wednesday’s swoop on Newcastle and West Ham. It also visited Chelsea to gather information, although there was no raid.

In all, it deployed 180 officers across the UK and France to search premises and seize documents, computers and mobile phones.

The French financial prosecutors’ office confirmed that the joint inquiry related to suspected “tax fraud committed during several transfers of players between French clubs and in the Premier League”.

As well as making four arrests, it said it had carried out 10 searches across France. Thirty-two investigators had been mobilised to work alongside what was believed to be a task force dedicated to Corsican gangs.