Newly launched ocuments reveal that Manchester Metropolis have been instantly funded by a authorities company in Abu Dhabi.
These paperwork have been printed by the German journal Der Spiegel and shared with the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) community.
“In response to the paperwork, Manchester Metropolis’s mother or father firm paid hundreds of thousands in commissions to gamers’ brokers, in violation of worldwide guidelines, and was behind a secret triangular deal to signal an underage Spanish footballer,” reveals infoLibre.
“Quite a few Soccer Leaks paperwork attain deep contained in the membership, in addition to the Govt Affairs Authority (EAA), an Abu Dhabi authorities company that advises the emirate’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on strategic coverage. As well as, their monetary operations reached Spain, the place they used Mediapro, the audiovisual group owned by Jaume Roures, as an middleman to camouflage their funds.
“The Soccer Leaks investigation now reveals that [Abu Dabi United Group Investment & Development] DUG’s funds to the membership have been authorised by an Abu Dhabi authorities company, the Govt Affairs Authority (EAA).
“Accountable for offering strategic recommendation to the emirate, it additionally managed ADUG’s accounts. Inner paperwork point out this. The company’s chairman, Khaldun Al Mubarak, Abu Dhabi’s de facto prime minister, heads the state funding fund and can be chairman of Manchester Metropolis.
“In response to the investigation paperwork, Al Mubarak permitted the cash flows that have been channelled by means of the federal government and ended up within the soccer membership’s accounts.
“As well as, requests for cost of brokers’ commissions have been despatched to the EAA’s authorized director and an bill to Etisalat, an Emirati state-owned firm that sponsors the group, was despatched by Man Metropolis to Omar Awad, the federal government company’s finance director. Neither Manchester Metropolis nor EAA officers have been keen to answer Der Spiegel’s questions.”
Three allegations
Der Spiegel reported that the investigation is specializing in three allegations towards Manchester Metropolis that contain strikes for underage gamers, doubtful sponsorships and wrongdoings in Roberto Mancini‘s compensation.
“Underage gamers have been allegedly pressured to signal contracts with Manchester Metropolis by means of financial funds, in violation of the foundations,” reads the article.
“Membership sponsors in Abu Dhabi are suspected of getting supplied solely a portion of their funds to the membership themselves, with the bulk apparently coming from Sheikh Mansour himself.
“Roberto Mancini, who’s at present the coach for the Italian nationwide group however who spent the years from 2009 to 2013 because the coach for Man Metropolis, is assumed to have acquired a good portion of his compensation secretly by means of a fictitious consultancy contract.”