Portsmouth chief denies tax evasion allegations

The chief executive of English Premier League basement club Portsmouth expressed his “astonishment” Thursday at allegations of tax evasion and promised to clear his name.

Peter Storrie went on the offensive after receiving a letter from Britain’s HM Revenue and Customs warning him of impending prosecution over charges relating to the transfer of midfielder Amdy Faye from French club Auxerre for 1.5 million pounds (2.49 million dollars) in August 2003.

Storrie has been on bail since being arrested in November 2007 on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

It has been alleged Faye was paid a 250,000 pounds (415,000 dollars) signing-on fee on which tax was not paid.

The move against Storrie is the latest in a series of off-field problems for Portsmouth, who have seen two owners in a matter of months after Sulaiman Al-Fahim, who only took over the club in August, sold a majority stake to Saudi businessman Ali Al-Faraj a fortnight ago.

A statement released by Portsmouth said: “Mr Storrie would like to place on record his astonishment at the decision that has been made to charge him with an offence of cheating the public revenue, and bewilderment as to how such a conclusion could be reached concerning the transfer of the player Amdy Faye to Portsmouth Football Club.

“At the time negotiations to acquire this player were concluded, Mr Storrie was on honeymoon and was not directly concerned in the agreement that was reached regarding Faye’s acquisition.”

The club added: “Mr Storrie did not and could not have gained from any cheating of the public revenue given his role within the club and allowing for the fact that he had no proprietary interest in Portsmouth FC.”

Storrie “will defend the allegations in the strongest possible terms and is entirely confident that he will be exonerated”, the statement concluded.

A spokesman for the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office said: “I can confirm that we have taken a decision to charge Mr Storrie.”

No decision has been taken over others involved in the investigation, he added.

Storrie was one of nine football figures questioned by police in a widespread probe into corruption within the English game, all of whom strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Last year, former Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, now in charge at Tottenham, and his wife were awarded 1,000 pounds damages against the police after judges ruled officers who raided their home as part of the inquiry had acted unlawfully.

Storrie has reportedly been a key figure in the takeovers of the club.

He is said to have brokered the consortium featuring Al-Faraj that was beaten by Al-Fahim to the initial takeover.

Storrie brought Al-Faraj back to the table when doubts grew that Al-Fahim would be able to raise the required funding in time.

Al-Faraj is reported to have supplied the five million pounds’ bridging loan needed earlier this month to pay players’ wages.

Portsmouth, the 2008 FA Cup winners, are currently bottom of the table, having won just once in nine league matches after starting the season with seven straight losses.