00:00What Manchester City are being accused of is effectively corporate fraud over a nine-year period.
00:07They've been lying to the Premier League in relation to their finances.
00:16City have effectively been accused of three things by the Premier League.
00:21First of all, they've been artificially inflating the money coming into the club.
00:27So they've been claiming that they've received money from sponsors, but actually it was handouts from the
00:34owner.
00:34The second accusation is that City have been paying people off the grid.
00:41The most high-profile accusation is that Roberto Mancini was being paid around about £
00:472 million a year by City
00:49and he was being paid a further £2 million by a football club in Abu Dhabi for
00:54four days worth a year.
00:55People say, well, why does that matter?
00:58Well, it's because under the cost control rules, you're allowed to lose £105 million over three
01:03years.
01:04The third accusation against Manchester City is that they've not cooperated with the Premier League.
01:12That City's response to this is, well, hold on.
01:15All of these charges are coming through the fact that somebody's hacked our email system.
01:21Why would we cooperate with anybody who's trying to charge us on the basis of hacking our IT system?
01:29The sanctions range from financial penalties in terms of fines to sporting penalties in terms of deductions or
01:35relegation or stripping of titles.
01:38So all of those things are kind of within the arc of what the Premier League can do.
01:44The biggest question is whether they will do.
01:46We're looking at a cost for both parties in excess of £100 million in terms of legal and
01:53witness fees.
01:54That money's got to come out of somebody's pocket.
01:57If City lose, it will have to come out of theirs.
02:00If City win, all the other clubs in the Premier League, they will be on the hook for it.
02:04Health.
02:05We'll be right back.
Comments