Portsmouth have been ordered back into court in under a fortnight on March 15th. Doubts have been raised about the independence of the administrator from the club’s fourth owner, Balram Chainrai. The club will have to provide details of all transactions between his club, Portpin, and the club.
Portsmouth have been ordered back into court in under a fortnight on March 15th. Doubts have been raised about the independence of the administrator from the club’s fourth owner, Balram Chainrai. The club will have to provide details of all transactions between his club, Portpin, and the club.
It was suggested in court on behalf of HMRC that Pompey’s Administration might well be a convienent one. HRMC were questioning whether the Administrator has connections with Balram Chainrai who is owed £17m. It was not a Court that appointed the administrator but a company (owned by Chainrai) based in the British Virgin Islands.
The motive behind the HMRC challenge seems to be that they were and are concerned that as an unsecured creditor they will lose out to Chainrai as the money owed to him is secured on Fratton Park and surrounding land. The plan is to sell the ground with proceeds to Chainrai and then lease it back
at £1.2m a year. The court have given Pompey two weeks to demonstrate that the administration order and appointment of the Administrator was in order.