October 5 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has warned the UK government that it could cancel major investment into the country following the guilty verdict against Manchester City over financial breaches of the Premier League rules.
Last week, the Premier League confirmed that the club had broken the financial rules between 2009 and 2018, but according to Bloomberg and the Daily Telegraph, the UAE have said the actions by the Premier League would “have an influence on the bilateral state relationship”.
The UAE is also threatening to withdraw a multibillion-pound investment in a Silicon Valley-style Oxbridge tech hub. The Gulf country has spent more than £30 billion investing in major sectors in the UK, including defense, life sciences and technology. Later this month, the two nations meet at an investment summit.
In response to the guilty verdict, Andy Burnham had first expressed ‘concern’ over losing Abu Dhabi as owners, pointing to their ‘track record’ of helping Manchester develop as a city, but number 10 later, through a spokesperson, clarified his comments saying that “if wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the appropriate consequences.”
The Premier League said an independent commission found City arranged “sham” commercial deals with a number of its sponsors, which were part of a “a disguised funding scheme”. The club inflated its financial results by more than £900 million.
The commission also called witnesses “dishonest”.
The ruling is a major blow to City and its Emirati owners, who came to power at the club in 2008 and built a footballing empire in a bid to not just win title and trophies but project the soft power of the United Arab Emirates. The club is led chairman by Khaldoon Al Mubarak and ultimate owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of the UAE’s ruler.
City have maintained their innocence and lodged an appeal last Friday, saying that the commission’s ruling contained “clear material errors of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe”.
- Samindra Lunti
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