6 August 2010

Balram Chainrai, seemingly the obvious candidate to buy Portsmouth, has said he remains unsure whether to take control of the club, which yesterday defeated a bid by Her Majesty’s revenue & Customs (HMRC) to prevent the club coming out of administration.

 The Hong Kong-based businessman is favourite to take Pompey out of administration and resume control at Fratton Park but he told Radio Solent: "I'm not talking to the administrator, the administrator is talking to me. It all depends on my family, my present situation," Chainrai told Radio Solent. If I go in, I will go in with money to stabilise the club and bring it back to the Premier League. I'm not going to stay in the Championship. The manager would receive my full support."

Chainrai lent Portsmouth's former owners £17 million last year before seizing the assets in February. He then placed the debt-ridden club in administration, which should end after yesterday’s High Court ruling against HMRC, which wanted to block proposals to help the debt-ridden Championship club out of administration. Mr Justice Mann said: "I propose to find in favour of the company administrators and dismiss the application of HMRC." HMRC confirmed it will not launch a new appeal against the decision, saying in a statement: “HMRC is naturally disappointed not to have won this appeal and we can confirm that we do not intend to appeal.

Our aim when pursuing debt of any kind is to achieve a fair outcome for the taxpayer and we will take this forward in the wider context of the football industry through separate and outstanding legal proceedings over the status of the so called Football Creditors Rule. This is an important and complex judgment and until we have had the opportunity to study it in detail we can't comment further." HMRC argued at the two-day hearing that Creditor’s Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) put in place to bring the club out of  administration was "unfair and seriously flawed" as football creditors, including players, were able to claim up to 100 per cent of monies owed to them, while other creditors, including HMRC, would receive much less.

Gregory Mitchell QC, appearing for HMRC, said that, under what was known as the Football Creditors Rule: "One class scoops the pool and the rest are left out in the cold." HMRC also claimed it is owed £13 million more than the £24million value put on its claim.  The administrators disputed these figures and were supported by the judge, who ruled in their favour.

{jcomments on}

Tweet

Tweetle                      Paylaş                        Paylaş