Redknapp’s insistence that the payments were legitimate bonuses due him at the time as manager of Portsmouth Football Club from its then-chairman, Milan Mandaric, rather than secret payments of a questionable nature, were made to reporters previously and cited during Day Two of his trial at Southwark Crown Court.
As Day Three of the trial got under way this morning in London, the story had fallen off front pages, but the world’s media and fans of football seemed still to be mesmerised, with many UK newspapers still following the story and filing up-to-the minute accounts on their websites.
The fact that Redknapp used his dog’s name (Rosie), and the year of his birth (1947) to identify his Monaco bank account was a detail that seemed of particular interest.
As reported, Redknapp is accused of hiding payments made between 2002 and 2007, totalling £189,000, in a secret bank account he opened in Monaco, in order to avoid having to pay tax on them. He denies the charges, as does co-defendant Mandaric.
In stating the prosecution’s case today, John Black, QC, argued that Redknapp’s excuses for not having declared the offshore deposits were “contradictory, inconsistent” and lacking in credibility, various media outlets reported.
Also today, Nigel Layton, from Quest, a major accountancy firm, testified that the Tottenham Hotspurs manager "voluntarily" revealed details about his Monaco bank account in 2006, when he was interviewed as part of an investigation Quest had been retained to conduct.
Under cross-examination by Redknapp’s lawyer, Layton is reported to have described Redknapp as "forthcoming in telling the inquiry about his Monaco account" in 2006, even though he did not, at that point, have to be.
