What has been described as the ‘soap opera’ at Birmingham City has taken a new twist. The club has revealed that £2.55m may have been misappropriated by a former employee from the parent company Birmingham International Holdings Limited. Shares in the Hong Kong based company were suspended six weeks ago and trading will not be resumed until further notice.
What has been described as the ‘soap opera’ at Birmingham City has taken a new twist. The club has revealed that £2.55m may have been misappropriated by a former employee from the parent company Birmingham International Holdings Limited. Shares in the Hong Kong based company were suspended six weeks ago and trading will not be resumed until further notice.
The Hong Kong police are investigating and the club may conduct its own investigation. Quite why this was not picked up by the auditors is unclear, something which concerns the club.
Last week the Football League wrote to the club to ask if undue influence was being exerted by Carson Yeung from his prison cell after concern had been expressed by supporters.
Yeung, who has lodged an appeal against his conviction, remains the club’s major shareholder. Last week, it emerged that Yeung had requested to remove three directors of Birmingham International Holdings and replace them with three of his own nominations.
In a statement the club said: “The Board has recently discovered that as at the date of this announcement a former employee of the Company may have misappropriated a sum of at least HK$30 million belonging to the Group since December 2013.”
“On a preliminary review, the Board considers that the Suspected Misappropriation may have a material impact on the operation and financial situation of the Group. The Board will continue to regularly inquire the development of the Investigation and re-assess its impact to the operation and financial situation of the Group from time to time.”