Thaksin Shinawatra, the former owner of Manchester City, has denied that he has a financial interest in the proposed takeover of Portsmouth. The Premier League had indicated that it would veto the sale of the club to Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim if reports of involvement on the part of the former Thai prime minister were confirmed. After being convicted of corruption and sentenced to two years in jail, even the Premier League would not want to claim that he was a fit and proper person to be involved in a club.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the former owner of Manchester City, has denied that he has a financial interest in the proposed takeover of Portsmouth. The Premier League had indicated that it would veto the sale of the club to Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim if reports of involvement on the part of the former Thai prime minister were confirmed. After being convicted of corruption and sentenced to two years in jail, even the Premier League would not want to claim that he was a fit and proper person to be involved in a club. Peter Storrie, the Portsmouth executive chairman, had admitted that he was introduced to al-Fahim by Pairoj Piempongsant, an associate of Shinawatra, but denied any knowledge of Shinawatra’s possible involvement.
The process of due diligence, which has involved up to a dozen lawyers and accountants scrutinising Portsmouth’s books, is not expected to be completed until the second week of July. That could leave the club struggling to field a competitive side in next season’s Premiership. While most clubs started refreshing their squads when the transfer window opened on June 1st, Pompey are already two weeks behind. If any nasty surprises are discovered in the books and the takeover does not occur, the club will be back to square one with half a team, no manager, an owner who has admitted he cannot invest any more and Standard Bank of South Africa wanting its money (£30m) back.