West Ham and Newcastle Raided in tax investigation....

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Comments

  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    I don't know if it's because he's French and was an inter country transfer that they showed Payet on the news or are his transfers part of the investigation.
  • whupathmanwhupathman
    Tax cases are incredibly complex and hard for a jury to understand due to the technical nature and the ability for a good brief to make the trial last a few months thus lessening the change of a guilty verdict, that was so little city crime goes to court. Will be interested to see how this ends up.
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    Probably just a filler shot, thorn. I think it would be a bit dubious to use his image if he was really implicated.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Weren't Marseille raided?
  • Expat_HammerExpat_Hammer
    IH, the Mail says that both us and Newcastle have had dealings with Marseilles
  • MarkNobleLocalHeroMarkNobleLocalHero
    edited April 2017
    The Sun mentions Demba Ba as the link between us, Newcastle and France (oh and Chelsea). It is the Sun so no knowing whether there is anything in this or whether some poor journo was set the task to trawl the interweb and find players transferred between the two clubs, especially French ones.
  • ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
    The Sun (I know, I know) claims there is a connection with Demba Ba's transfer from us to Newcastle, Chelsea also had a visit from HMRC so it might also include his transfer there. The Indy reckons it might go all the way back to 2007, not a good year for our transfer dealings although that was the year that Newcastle signed Habib Beye from Marseille. Sam was manager there at the time.........

    As no one at West Ham or Chelsea has been arrested it seems the inquiry is focused mostly on Newcastle,
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    The one named Newcastle chap who was arrested was released without charge last night.
  • WhitehorsehammerWhitehorsehammer
    Radio 4 also reporting this morning that the transfer of Demba Ba is part of the investigation.
  • YeoldhammerYeoldhammer
    Demba Ba


    2005–2006
    Rouen 26 (22)

    2006–2007
    Mouscron 12 (8)

    2007–2011
    1899 Hoffenheim 97 (37)

    2011
    West Ham United 12 (7)

    2011–2013
    Newcastle United 54 (29)

    2013–2014
    Chelsea 33 (7)

    2014–2015
    Beşiktaş 29 (18)

    2015–
    Shanghai Shenhua 29 (20)

    2017–
    → Beşiktaş (loan) 0 (0)
  • chicagohammerchicagohammer
    The headlines this morning talk about secret payments made, if so, how monumentally stupid is that.

    any one enterprise has the right to renumerate their employees how they wish, but the onus is surely on that enterprise to ensure that any such payments go through payroll and will be assessed for taxation.
  • YeoldhammerYeoldhammer
    Apparently other names are springing up

    Demba Ba / Diarra. Marseilles hierarchy being arrested ?
  • VorselaarhammerVorselaarhammer
    "Former Newcastle winger Sylvain Marveaux is one of four people arrested"

    Looks like the Geordies are the center of problem certainly.....
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/28/newcastle-tax-investigation-moussa-sissoko

    Seems to be focused mostly on what happened when Newcastle signed players from French clubs.
  • grey_til_I_dyegrey_til_I_dye
    Certainly seems from that that we are peripheral to the main investigation.
  • SuzanneClaretSuzanneClaret
    edited April 2017
    Looks very much like its Newcastle at the epicentre with us just playing a bit part.
  • grey_til_I_dyegrey_til_I_dye
    edited May 2017
    Club respond to Mail on Sunday:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4458942/West-Ham-s-1m-Payet-loyalty-bonus-HMRC-raids.html

    http://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2017/april/30-april/club-response-newspaper-report


    BOOM!

    Facts 1 Shameful Rag with no interest in facts 0
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    The club should ask for a retraction at least - if not an apology.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Greys if you read the article fully it does say there is no suggestion the club has done anything wrong. A lot of the papers had the same kind of story and I think HMRC are investigating a lot of deals where Marseille are involved. It could still well be the case that Payet and/or his agent are under suspicion.
    I can see why the club felt the need to make a statement as the headline was attention grabbing.
  • grey_til_I_dyegrey_til_I_dye
    thorn

    Not just the headline:
    A controversial £1million loyalty payment to France midfielder Dimitri Payet by West Ham was one trigger for last week’s raids by the taxman on football clubs, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
    Which, according to the club, is simply false.
  • SuzanneClaretSuzanneClaret
    Oh imagine my surprise!
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    edited May 2017
    The articles, in several papers, don't accuse us of anything but state that the Revenue are investigating the £1M loyalty payment made to Payet.
    I believe the club when they say all tax etc was paid on the money but there must be a reason the HMRC are investigating us and took away computers and documents.
    Hopefully it is only this payment that is being investigated because they'll just say everything is above board but if it isn't and they're investigating the Payet and Demba Ba transfers for other reasons then that could be more serious.
    In all the cases I don't think it's the clubs being investigated but the players and/or their agents. Demba Ba moved from us to Newcastle on a free but £1M was paid out in different payments to different people for doing what appears to be nothing.

    As for the wording of the article I would call the loyalty payment controversial seeing as he had only been with us for 1 season and had already hinted he wanted a move and then demanded one almost immediately after he got it. ;biggrin
  • grey_til_I_dyegrey_til_I_dye
    Sorry, thorn, are you saying that HMRC were not capable of ascertaining the details of the loyalty payment without a dawn raid? The first and central claim of the story is simply false.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Then why were we raided.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Re: the loyalty payment to Payet

    Vulgar? Yes
    Abhorrent? Yes
    Gut wrenching? Yes

    Compliant? Yes

    If it has been processed through their payroll software all taxes would have been 100% correctly captured. I'm struggling to see what the fuss is about
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited May 2017
    We were (likely) raided due to the paperwork we held when we 1) transferred Demba Ba originally from Hoffenheim and (mainly) 2) the paperwork we held when he terminated his contract with us to move to Newcastle, who are the focus of the investigation.
  • grey_til_I_dyegrey_til_I_dye
    edited May 2017
    thorn

    I have no more idea than the Mail on Sunday.

    baracks

    That's why it surely can't be the loyalty payment that is at issue, notwithstanding the MoS's 'insider'.
  • PrestonHammerPrestonHammer
    A couple of things.

    1) Demba Ba leaving us on a free means exactly that, he went for free. If Newcastle then had to pay any money, it would go to his agents, not to us. I don't see how that has anything to do with us. Although I don't know what the deal was when he signed for us from Hoffenheim.

    2) I don't believe for one second that having seen newspaper reports of Payet receiving a £1 million pound loyalty bonus, the HMRC suddenly decided to investigate us and then initiate a dawn raid on the strength of that.



  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Hmrc are probably of the view that the payment to Payet was criminal and I personally wouldn't disagree with that
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Yeah, the Club was obviously in the wrong.
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