Kieran Maguire issues £310m Newcastle United claim as PIF call in the lawyers
The Saudi Public Investment Fund may have knocked off £5million from the price they paid for Newcastle United to account for the club’s alleged tax issues.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the bill the Magpies are currently facing from HMRC.
The Sun reported last Saturday (11 June) that Newcastle have enlisted the help of a team of lawyers to help fight of a £5m bill for tax evasion relating to transfers between 2011 and 2013.
A criminal probe into the alleged offences involving the deals for Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba was launched during Mike Ashley’s reign in 2017 but later abandoned.
Newcastle are, however, still facing a civil case, for the charges that took place almost a decade before PIF’s acquisition of the club.
Maguire claims that Saudis may have added £5m to the £305m they paid for the club in October last year had it not been for the legal issues.
“Fingers will be pointed at the previous regime,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“For all we know, these could have been contingencies as far as the price paid by the new owners is concerned. If you buy a house which has got dry rot in it, you lower the price you’re prepared to pay.
“Similarly, if you’re making a purchase and you know the company has contingent liabilities. i.e possible future payments, you effectively ask what the insurance value of the company is.
“If you were to go to an insurance company and ask how much it would take to take this asset off my hands. From a personal point of view, I would have done that and asked that of the price I was prepared to pay for the club.”
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