Manchester City is accused of an “Enron-style” financial deception by the Spanish Laliga boss Javier Tebas.
Pronounced Tebas surprised an audience in London when he claimed that the Etihad-Outfit had hidden losses that would have influenced their financial fair play status by hiding them in related Abu Dhabi companies.
Manchester City has rejected the claims as “without a foundation”.
Tebas referred directly to the Enron scandal, in which the American energy giant had made a claim of £ 40 billion fraud in 2001 and led to the collapse of a large accounting firm and the prison sentence of senior executives.
The Spaniard told the FT Business of Football Summit: “The city shop is one that we think they have brought the losses on the companies that are not an official part of City Football Group.
“You remember the case in the US, the ENron case. They losing losing to different companies. These are similar cases.
“They have a reconnaissance company, a marketing company. That is where they have very high editions. They invoice the city for less money
“City has costs that are lower than when they have this circle of companies in the area.
“These other companies lose the money, but not the club itself.
“If you have these high editions and the companies lose money, the city will eventually lose money.
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“But they have structural costs that are supported by the companies around them that are used to avoid the regulations.”
The claims from Tebas brought an angry reaction from City, which could take any allegations such as the Privé Foundation and could take even legal action.
The Prem Champions claim that Tebas has a long history of attacking the club and refused to comment.
But they strongly refute the allegations and point to their accounts as proof of no misconduct that is a matter of public report.
Nevertheless, La Liga described a formal complaint against the city that they submitted to the European Commission in 2023 and the club accused of causing a “serious distortion” on the football market.
Tebas added that Laliga believed that the owners of City in Abu Dhabi had used their wealth to illegally strengthen the competitive position of the club.
He said: “We also reported City about sponsorship and capital contributions.
“Normally in Europe, the competition sanction is if you receive state aid that disrupts the market is that you have to return public assistance to the state plus other sanctions.
“We have presented our complaint to the EU. It is in the research phase.
“We have not had an answer, but it must be investigated. The EU has many other cases, not just this one.
“The problem is City, the club and the companies they manage, not Abu Dhabi or Sheikh Mansour.
“We believe that they do not comply with FFP rules, rules that bring integrity into competitions, so everyone must comply with them, on and next to the field.”
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