Redknapp cleared of tax evasion

Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has been cleared of tax evasion at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.

Redknapp and Sheffield Wednesday owner Milan Mandaric were accused of evading tax on payments totalling 189,000 pounds.

Both Redknapp, who managed Portsmouth in two spells from 2002 to 2004, and again from 2005 to 2008, and Mandaric, the Fratton Park side’s former owner, denied the charges during the trial at the London court.

They argued the money was given as a gesture of friendship and was not work-related.

Mandaric put the sums of money into Redknapp’s offshore bank account while both men were at Portsmouth.

Redknapp and Mandaric were cleared on two charges of cheating the public revenue.

The jury of eight men and four women returned a unanimous not guilty verdict on the 13th day of the trial, with Redknapp and Mandaric, sitting next to each other in the dock, embracing after the verdict was returned.

The prosecution had claimed the two sums of money were bonuses for Redknapp and tax should have been paid on them.

They claimed Redknapp received 115,473 pounds – five percent of the net profit sale of striker Peter Crouch to Aston Villa in 2002.

Redknapp opened an account in Monaco and was paid the money into the account a month later.

Mandaric said the payment was intended to help his friend grow investments, while the second sum was because he felt ’embarrassed’ by the losses of the initial ventures.

Under cross-examination, Redknapp said he lied to News of the World reporter Rob Beasley to get rid of him.

The 64-year-old told Beasley the money given to him was a bonus to make up for money he had lost on the Crouch sale, contradicting what Mandaric had said.

HM Revenue and Customs have said they accept the verdict.