Tevez: Medical Then An Inquiry? …
Independent: The gauntlet was thrown down to the Premier League last night with an announcement that Carlos Tevez will fly into Britain on Tuesday for a medical at Old Trafford amid claims that he will sign for Manchester United next week.
The Argentina striker has been at the centre of a contractual wrangle which had delayed his proposed £35m move from West Ham.
But Tevez’s adviser, Kia Joorabchian, last night released a statement saying that the transfer would go ahead. It read: “On Tuesday Carlos Tevez will fly to Britain for a medical at Old Trafford as part of the process of his transfer to Manchester United.
“It is our understanding that all parties involved in the transfer are now satisfied the administrative issues will be settled in the next few days. ”
The “parties” the statement refers to are understood to be Manchester United, MSI (the company headed by Joorabchian who claim to own Tevez’s economic rights) and West Ham but not the Premier League. Joorabchian added: “We don’t see any problems. I spoke to United tonight and they are confident they will have him registered next week.”
Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, told Sky Sports News last night: “I think we have got the player we think he is our player and are very hopeful. The Premier League seem to be holding back, I think they probably want to make sure everything is transparent. We want that to be the case we don’t want a bad taste surrounding the transfer, we want it done cleanly. But as far as our club are concerned, everyone was excited when we thought we could get Tevez. He’s exciting, his form is fantastic and at 23 he can get better I think he kept West Ham up.”
Manchester United have already agreed terms with Tevez. The player would receive £90,000 a week after initially signing a two-year loan with a view to a permanent five-year deal.
But the deal stalled after the Premier League insisted that West Ham had to receive the majority of the transfer fee. However, while the Upton Park club hold Tevez’s registration, his economic rights are owned by Joorabchian. Sources close to Joorabchian are confident they are on a sound legal footing to go ahead with the transfer.
The deal must still be approved by the Premier League, however. It could be the dispute is now set for the courts. Either the Premier League takes legal action, holds a second inquiry into the whole affair or backs off and lets the deal go through.
Last night the Premier League warned Joorabchian that Tevez’s registration would not be transferred unless they were satisfied that West Ham conducted the transfer. A spokesman said: “Any deal for Carlos Tevez has to be done directly with West Ham United. They hold the registration and we will not transfer the registration unless a deal is done directly with the club.”
A West Ham spokesman said: “There is no deal in place regarding Carlos Tevez. He remains contracted to and registered with West Ham and there is no change to that situation. Obviously, a move cannot take place without the agreement of West Ham and the Premier League.”
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Guardian: A Brazilian judge yesterday ordered the arrest of Kia Joorabchian, the Iranian-born businessman who acts as the agent to West Ham’s Carlos Tevez , after a two-year investigation into accusations of money laundering in Brazil.
Joorabchian, one of the businessmen behind the Media Sports Investments group which launched an unsuccessful takeover bid of West Ham last year, is accused of participating in a money-laundering racket involving the Brazilian club, Corinthians. MSI, a subsidiary of an offshore investment company, has been under investigation in Brazil since it took over the club in December 2004. Officials from the Brazilian intelligence agency are also known to have looked into the company’s background but until now no concrete action has been taken.
“The [MSI] transactions are carried out with the use of numerous offshore accounts which have the single and well-known intention of distancing the investor and the illicit origin of the resources from their final destination, in this case the purchase and sale of [football] players,” the federal attorneys Silvio Luis Martins de Oliveira and Rodrigo de Grandis were reported as saying by the Brazilian legal website consultor Juridico.
Joorabchian has maintained his innocence throughout. Yesterday the Sao Paulo-based judge Fausto Martin de Sanctis also ordered the arrest of Nojan Bedroud, an Iranian businessman linked to MSI, and the Russian business tycoon Boris Berezovsky, alleged to be the financial backer of MSI. None of the three men was in Brazil yesterday.
Instead Brazilian authorities forwarded the warrants to Interpol. The bank accounts of MSI in Brazil were also blocked. The activities of Joorabchian and MSI in Brazil first came under scrutiny in a 2005 report compiled by the Sao Paulo organised crime squad and the state public prosecutor. The document, to which the Guardian had access, claimed that “sufficient indices [exist] to show that the partnership MSI-Corinthians is being used to practise the laundering of money”.
Joorabchian and MSI seem bent on calling the Premier League’s bluff on the Tevez affair, reiterating last night that the Argentina forward will soon become a Manchester United player. In a statement he said: “On Tuesday Tevez will fly to Britain for a medical at Old Trafford as part of the process of his transfer to Manchester United. MSI is considering making an application to Fifa to request that they mediate in the dispute. It is our understanding that all parties involved in the transfer are now satisfied the administrative issues will be settled in the next few days.”
Sir Alex Ferguson was saying that his club “think he’s our player; it’s just a matter of making sure everything’s done properly”, but the Premier League stressed again that this can be only if a market-rate fee is paid to West Ham.
It is understood that West Ham remain aligned with the Premier League’s position, that they must receive a fee, but it is believed that they do not expect to do so. However, the club are not thought to be minded to make a complaint against the Premiership champions under the league’s tapping-up regulations.
