Redknapp appears in court over tax
Reuters - Thursday 11 February 2010, 13:12
LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry
Redknapp and former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric appeared
in a British court on Thursday jointly accused of cheating the
public revenue.
The pair face two charges relating to two alleged payments
totalling $295,000 made to Redknapp during his time as manager
of Portsmouth by Mandaric via a bank account in Monaco, evading
tax and national insurance contributions.
Appearing together in the dock, Mandaric, 71, and Redknapp,
62, spoke only to confirm their names, addresses and ages and
lent forward and listened carefully to proceedings in a brief,
five minute hearing at the City of Westminster magistrates court
in central London.
The pair were given unconditional bail and must now appear
at London's Southwark Crown Court on April 14 where they will
enter their pleas.
After the hearing, Mandaric's lawyer said his client was
"surprised and extremely disappointed" that the authorities had
decided to prosecute him, saying the case was "misconceived and
extremely ill-judged."
"We are absolutely confident that this prosecution will
fail," his lawyer Mark Wilson told reporters.
"Mr Mandaric looks forward to emerging from these
proceedings completely vindicated and with his reputation for
honesty and integrity completely untouched."
Redknapp took over as Portsmouth boss in March 2002, won
promotion to the top flight Premier League the following season,
but resigned after a dispute with Mandaric in 2004.
However, he returned the following year and led the south
coast English club to its first FA Cup success for 69 years in
2008, before he left for Tottenham just months later.
His current side are sixth in the Premier League after
losing 1-0 to Wolves on Wednesday. Tottenham have
given Redknapp their full backing after learning he would face
legal proceedings.
Mandaric, who is now chairman of Championship
club Leicester City, took over Portsmouth in
1998. The Serbian-American businessman completed the sale of
Portsmouth to Alexandre Gaydamak in 2006.
On Wednesday, Portsmouth, who sit bottom of the Premier
League, were given seven days to fight a winding-up order over
an unpaid tax bill.
Redknapp and Mandaric were previously quizzed, but not
charged, in a police investigation into corruption in football
in 2007.