Call for fraud squad to probe Leeds deal
· Taxman 'should challenge role of administrators' · MP's early day motion wants more transparency David Conn Thursday June 14, 2007 The Guardian A Yorkshire MP has called on the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office to investigate whether money-laundering or other criminal offences have been committed in the recent financial dealings at Leeds United. Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has signed an early-day motion in the House of Commons which "urges" those law-enforcement agencies to mount inquiries, calls for greater transparency in the ownership of football clubs and urges HM Revenue and Customs to challenge in court the conduct of the administrators of Leeds United. Willis's motion expresses concern at "the lack of transparency over the financial affairs of Premier and Football League clubs" and urges Soca and the SFO "to investigate whether criminal activity, including money-laundering, has taken place". The motion largely focuses on the three offshore companies, whose owners are unidentified, that have controlled the club and decisively influenced the administration which paid only 1p in the pound to creditors owed £35m. The majority of the shares in Leeds before it went into administration on May 4 were owned by the Forward Sports Fund, a trust registered in the Cayman Islands and administered by a company in Switzerland. The beneficiaries of Forward are unknown. Although Ken Bates was the Leeds chairman and a director, the club's most recent accounts, for the year to June 30 2006, stated that neither he nor any other director owned shares in the club. The largest creditor in Leeds was Astor Investment Holdings, registered in Guernsey, which claimed to have loaned the club £12.84m. Krato Trust Limited, registered in Nevis Island, West Indies, claimed to be owed £2.5m. Both of these entities supported the administrator's proposal to pay creditors 1p in the pound and transfer the club to a new company, again owned by Forward Sports Fund and again with Bates as a director. The administrator, Richard Fleming of the accountants KPMG, stated that neither Krato nor Astor had any connection to Forward. Collectively the three offshore funds' claims amounted to £17.7m, about 45% of the total, more than enough to block any alternative offer for the club, some of which had promised to pay creditors a much greater return. At the creditors' meeting on June 1 the proposal was passed by a margin of 0.2% above the 75% vote required. At the meeting the former Leeds chairman Gerald Krasner pointed to a declaration in Leeds's 2006 accounts that Astor investments "has an interest in Forward Sports Fund", which meant that in fact the two entities were connected. That was crucial because, if the 75% threshold for an administrator's proposal is reached with the votes of connected creditors, a separate vote has to be taken at which a majority is required and any connected votes are disallowed. Mark Taylor, a director of Leeds who is Bates's solicitor, told the meeting that Astor and Forward had been connected in June last year but that he had ensured they were disconnected last December. The administrator said he had been assured in writing by Astor, and in sworn declarations from Bates and Taylor, that the offshore entities were not connected. Several creditors have since said they are unhappy that no detailed explanation was given of the relationship between the offshore entities, and how any connection was severed. Willis's motion calls on KPMG to "explain why it failed to ascertain the beneficiaries of Astor Investments Holding [sic] . . . and Krato Trust . . . who agreed to write off £13m and £2.4m debts, and to seek explanations." KPMG said in response that because Astor and Krato were owned overseas "it was not for us to discover any more about their ownership than Mark Taylor and Ken Bates assuring us that they were not connected parties". Bates reacted to the MP's intervention with customary belligerence. The club issued a statement saying: "We challenge Phil Willis to repeat his allegations outside the House of Commons, and we will see him in court if he does." -------------------------------------------------------------------- myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft® Windows® and Linux web and application hosting - http://link.myhosting.com/myhosting _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist Join The Leeds United Supporters Trust at www.lufctrust.org
