Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Join today
Already a member?
Log in
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak carries diplomatic immunity which could complicate any legal action in the aftermath of the Premier League’s case against the club.
An independent commission found City guilty of almost all of the Premier League’s charges, the majority of which related to serious breaches of the league’s financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. It found City created “sham” commercial contracts as part of schemes to inflate revenue and conceal costs by more than £900m over the nine-year period.
City have strongly rejected the verdict and reasserted their innocence. The club is in the process of submitting an appeal, and could yet take the case to the High Court if the verdict is upheld.
The club’s officials in charge at the time of the offences could face action from the Independent Football Regulator, which has statutory powers to disqualify owners, directors and executives if they are deemed unsuitable on grounds of honesty and integrity.
The Serious Fraud Office could also look into the case if there is any suggestion that City deliberately falsified their accounts in breach of UK law, which the club denies.
Names were redacted from the commission’s initial 40-page core judgment, and Mubarak has not been directly accused of wrongdoing. But any legal action that results from the case could be complicated by his status.
Mubarak, a high-ranking official in the UAE government, was added to the UK’s list of approved diplomats in 2020, according to a report in the Financial Times, giving him immunity from any criminal proceedings and most civil action in British courts.
Last weekend, after media reports of the commission’s verdict first emerged, Mubarak reiterated City’s innocence in a letter to fans, writing: “The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the Club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began … There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our Club. We will not give them that opportunity.”
Following the published core decision, City released a statement saying: “Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today.
“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case. The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.
“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.
“The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”
Diplomatic relations between the two countries could be strained by the case. Together they launched a sovereign investment partnership in 2021, which has seen UAE commit around £30bn into Britain, a process led by Mubarak.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be “really concerned” if City’s Abu Dhabi owners decided to sell the club after they were found guilty of serious breaches of financial rules.
Burnham praised the ownership group led by Sheikh Mansour for its investment in Manchester since taking over the club in 2008.
“I would be really concerned to lose them,” he told the BBC. “They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.”
Burnham, who was previously the mayor of Greater Manchester, drew parallels with Everton’s battle with the league’s profit and sustainability rules, when he argued the club he supports had not been treated fairly.
Everton received a 10-point deduction, that was later reduced to six points, after being found to have breached the league’s financial rules over a three-year period ending in 2022.
“It would be wrong of me to leap to one side given the experience that I’d had before,” he said.
With sanctions yet to be determined and appeals expected, Burnham acknowledged there was “a lot at stake” for City, their supporters and Manchester, but said it would be inappropriate for him to intervene in the disciplinary process.
additional reporting by Reuters