TAX NEWS - June 2010

UK Tax: Storrie faces new tax evasion charge

Peter Storrie, 58, who attended the hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, last week, is charged with evading tax in relation to midfielder Eyal Berkovic's termination fee.

Dressed in a navy blue suit, he stood in the dock to confirm his name and address and listen as the charge was read to him.

Storrie, who gave his address as St Helen's Road, Hayling Island, is accused of making an offshore payment to terminate Berkovic's contract on which no tax was declared or paid.

It is alleged that between January 1, 2005, and November 28, 2007, in his position as club chief executive, he arranged a termination payment to Berkovic via the account of Medellin Enterprises Ltd, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, causing the failure of the club to operate PAYE and account for income tax and National Insurance contributions in respect of the payment.

District Judge Timothy Workman ordered the case to be sent to Southwark Crown Court for a further hearing at 10am, on September 13.

Storrie was granted unconditional bail.

Former club owner Milan Mandaric will appear in court facing the same charge on June 17.

Storrie is also charged with separate offences relating to the signing-on fees of Pompey midfielder Amdy Faye.

A court hearing in London last month revealed Storrie, and ex-manager Harry Redknapp, and former club owner Milan Mandaric are set to stand trial next year over the other tax and National Insurance evasion charges.

Seventy-one-year-old Mandaric and 63-year-old Redknapp, of Panorama Road, in Poole, are also charged with evading tax and NI contributions due between April 1, 2002, and November 28, 2007.

Storrie is alleged to have cheated the public revenue between July 1, 2003 and November 28, 2007 over a signing-on fee to midfielder Amdy Faye when he moved from Auxerre to Portsmouth.

He is accused of arranging for the fee to Faye to be paid via the bank account of an agent, Willie McKay, to "conceal its true nature and purpose".

His actions allegedly caused "a failure on the part of the club to operate PAYE and account for income tax and National Insurance contributions in respect of that fee".