October 5 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has warned the UK government that it could cancel major investments in the country following the guilty verdict against Manchester City for financial breaches of Premier League rules.
Last week, the Premier League confirmed the club had breached financial rules between 2009 and 2018, but according to Bloomberg and the Daily Telegraph, the UAE has said the Premier League’s actions “would have an influence on the bilateral state relationship”.
The United Arab Emirates is also threatening to pull out of a multibillion-pound investment in a Silicon Valley-style Oxbridge technology hub. The Gulf country has spent more than £30bn investing in key UK sectors including defence, life sciences and technology. Later this month, the two nations meet for an investment summit.
In response to the guilty verdict, Andy Burnham had first expressed “concern” at Abu Dhabi’s loss as owners, pointing to their “previous track record” of helping Manchester develop as a city, but No 10 later clarified his comments through a spokesman, saying that “if an offense is found, those responsible should face appropriate consequences”.
The Premier League said an independent commission found City arranged “bogus” commercial deals with several of its sponsors, which were part of a “disguised financing scheme”. The club inflated its financial results by more than £900 million.
The commission also described the witnesses as “dishonest”.
The ruling is a major blow to City and its Emirati owners, who came to power at the club in 2008 and built a footballing empire to not only win titles and trophies but project the soft power of the United Arab Emirates. The club is chaired by Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the ultimate owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates.
The City has maintained its innocence and filed an appeal last Friday, saying the commission’s ruling contained “clear material errors of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.”
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