Harrogate & Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Phil Willis has called for an enquiry into whether criminal activity has taken place at Leeds United during the administration process.
In a commons motion, Willis has called on the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office to investigate the clubs financial status and just what involvement Ken Bates` offshore accounts had in the CVA agreement.
The petition, co-signed by the Liberal Democrats Sports Spokesman Bob Russell states: “That this house. . . is appalled that the owners of Leeds United, Forward Sports Fund, not only avoided the effects of points deduction by going into administration after relegation from the Championship was confirmed, but re-emerged from administration within 24 hours having abandoned £35m worth of debts.’
The issue that £7million owed to HM Revenue & Customs was wiped off during the administration process has also been brought into the argument, but it was Revenue & Customs that Ken Bates actually blamed for the club slipping into administration: Bates said: ‘The Inland Revenue acted extremely unreasonably.
Over the last two-and-a-half years Leeds have paid between £15m and £20m to the Revenue, but our cash flow dried up and we asked for a holiday.
The Revenue said no and put foward the petition to wind up the club. I’m sorry small creditors have lost money, but that is totally down to the Revenue.’
Join Vital Leeds
It’s easy to register for Vital Leeds, simply click the link and enjoy getting involved (you can even win prizes!)
Message Board
To visit the Vital Leeds message board, click here.
Get involved
This website is your website and we are looking for people to help run the site. Do you go to most of the games and have an opinion? Why not write a match report? Perhaps you are a budding journalist or even just someone who is very opinionated? Well why not join our team? If this interests you please contact Vital Leeds.