Redknapp tax evasion trial begins

Jan 23, 2012, 18:23 GMT

London - Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp went on trial on Monday accused of receiving offshore payments from his former employer.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court heard that the 64 year old, who is widely tipped to be the next England manager, dodged taxes on 'substantial payments' while he was in charge at Portsmouth.

He was accused of receiving two untaxed payments of 295,000 dollars from former chairman Milan Mandaric, his co-accused.

John Black QC opened the Crown's case by telling jurors 'both parties must have known' they were avoiding taxes.

'These payments were a bung or offshore bonus that the parties had absolutely no intention of paying taxes for,' he said.

Black focused on the purchase of Peter Crouch for 1.25 million pounds (2.9 million dollars) before he was sold for 4.5 million pounds.

Redknapp and Mandaric deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when he was manager of Portsmouth.

The first charge alleges that between April 1, 2002 and November 28, 2007 Mandaric paid 145,000 dollars into a bank account held by Redknapp in Monaco to avoid paying income tax and National Insurance.

The second charge, for the same offence, relates to a sum of 150,000 dollars allegedly paid by Mandaric to the same account between May 1, 2004 and November 28, 2007.

Redknapp never mentioned the Monaco account as he was investigated by HM Revenue and Customs officials over his transfer dealings at West Ham, the court heard.

The probe, between January 2004 and October 2006, 'was originally prompted by concerns over a 300,000 (pounds) payment ... regarding profit made in a player transfer, namely Rio Ferdinand', Black said.

The Monaco bank account eventually came to light during an inquiry into illicit payments in football, led by Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

The investigation, dubbed the Quest inquiry, was handed to the Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore in July 2007.

In November the previous year, Redknapp had been interviewed as part of the investigation.

'That was the first time anyone heard of a Monaco bank account,' the barrister said.

Redknapp first flew out to Monaco - a tax haven - in April 2002 to set up the account, the Crown claims.

He named the HSBC account Rosie 47 - a reference to his dog's name and the year of his birth.

'He flew to Monaco for the specific purpose of setting up a secret account, into which the off-the-record payments could be received,' Black said.

Black said the first time the British authorities knew of the Monaco account was in November 2006.

'It's significant, the Crown suggests, that the bank account opened by Mr Redknapp was located in an offshore tax haven.

'The Crown suggests this was quite deliberate and was intended to obscure and to render less transparent the nature of the money payments.'

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