Redknapp used dog’s name for secret account
From Tax & Regulation Jan 24 2012 BY: Helen Burggraf
, Contributing Editor
, International Adviser
Harry Redknapp, manager of the Tottenham Hotspurs football team, used his dog’s name and the year of his birth to identify a secret bank account he opened in Monaco to hide “bungs” he received, a London court was told yesterday on the opening day of his trial into alleged tax evasion.
According to the prosecution, Redknapp opened the account in question – using the password “Rosie47” – to deposit payments totalling £189,000.
Redknapp denies the charges, as does co-defendant Milan Mandaric, the former chairman of Portsmouth Football Club, where Redknapp had been employed at the time the alleged payments were made.
Presenting the prosecution’s case, John Black QC,told Southwark crown court that Redknapp and Mandaric must have known that the offshore account effectively meant they were evading UK tax.
News of the Redknapp case, which was all over the front pages of British newspapers this morning, prompted experts to remind consumers not to use such personal details as pets’ names for their passwords.
Crouch transfer
As reported here in 2010, Redknapp was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to two payments he received while manager of Portsmouth FC from its former chairman, Milan Mandaric.
Redknapp was charged with receiving the payments via the Monaco bank account, which was said to have enabled him to evade tax and national insurance contributions.
The payments were described in court yesterday as an off-record bonus that neither Redknapp nor Mandaric intended to declare for tax purposes.
Redknapp’s first day in court came the day after he watched his Spurs lose 3-2 to Manchester City, in what was variously described as a "painful" and "controversial" match. At one point during yesterday’s proceedings, Judge Anthony Leonard QC is said to have reminded the jury that the case was “about tax fraud, not football”, albeit a tax fraud that allegedly took place in the world of football.
The case is expected to last two weeks.