Harry Redknapp charged with £40,000 tax evasion

Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has been charged with two counts of tax evasion.

Mr Redknapp, 62, was charged with cheating the public revenue of about £40,000 at Bishopsgate police station.

It relates to two payments totalling US $295,000 allegedly made by former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric to Mr Redknapp via a Monaco bank account.

Mr Mandaric was charged with tax evasion on Tuesday and both men are due before magistrates next month.

Mr Mandaric, 71, is currently the chairman of Leicester City.

A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said: "The CPS Revenue and Customs Division decided there was sufficient evidence and it was in the public interest to charge Mr Redknapp.
"He is jointly charged with Milan Mandaric, the former chairman of Portsmouth Football Club, following an investigation by the City of London Police and HM Revenue and Customs."

A CPS spokesman told that, as a common law offence, there is technically no maximum sentence for the charge - meaning that an unlimited fine or prison sentence could be decided at a judge's discretion.

Ian Burton, his solicitor, said: "Harry has co-operated fully with investigators during the course of this inquiry and is confident of a successful outcome to these court proceedings."

Mr Burton, of law firm BurtonCopeland, added: "The £40,000 figure is our estimate."

The charges relate to Mr Redknapp's time as Portsmouth manager.

It is alleged he evaded tax and national insurance contributions between 1 April 2002 and 28 November 2007.

Mr Redknapp was originally arrested in November 2007 by investigators looking at deals between Portsmouth and Birmingham City.

At the time he accused the police of targeting him simply because of his high profile.

'Non-football matter'

He left the club in 2008 to join his current employer.

Tottenham Hotspur have previously said the case will not affect his employment because it was a private, non-football matter and pre-dated his tenure at the club.


Following the charges, a spokesman for the club told : "His position remains unaffected and it is a private matter."

Since taking over at Tottenham Mr Redknapp has guided the club from the threat of relegation to contention for European qualification this season.

Portsmouth are mired in financial difficulties and have been unable to pay players on several occasions.
Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie was also questioned during the 26-month police inquiry about the transfer of former player Amdy Faye to the club from French side Auxerre for £1.5m in August 2003.

Mr Storrie was subsequently charged with concealing a signing-on fee during the deal by paying it into the midfielder's bank account. He is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on 20 January.

Birmingham City's former managing director Karren Brady and former co-owner David Sullivan were also investigated by police, but no further action was taken against them.

Mr Redknapp is due to appear at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on 11 February.

In May 2008 Mr Redknapp sued City of London Police for arresting him and searching his home in Poole, Dorset.

The High Court ruled the search was unlawful and granted him £1,000 in damages.