Redknapp 'Put Bungs In Dog's Bank Account'

Spurs Boss In Court On Tax Charges

Football manager Harry Redknapp made large deposits into a secret tax haven bank account that had been set up in the name of his bulldog, a court has heard.
Redknapp, 64, went on trial yesterday accused of the tax dodge in which transfer bonuses worth £189,000 were paid into a Monaco account during his time as boss of Portsmouth.
Redknapp, now Tottenham Hotspur manager, named the HSBC bank account Rosie 47 - a reference to his dog's name and the year of his (Rednapp's) birth, the court heard.
One of the payments during his time at Portsmouth followed the £3m profit the club made on the sale of England star Peter Crouch, prosecutors claim.
The cash was allegedly paid to him by the club's then chairman, co-defendant Serbian Milan Mandaric.
Prosecutor John Black QC will complete his opening statement to the jury this morning before calling the first witnesses at Southwark Crown Court.
Redknapp was accused yesterday of being a "hard-headed businessman" who, alongside Mandaric, 73, obscured the money trail for years.
He also allegedly failed to tell investigators about the Monaco account as tax officials probed a previous £300,000 payment he received over Rio Ferdinand's record-breaking transfer between West Ham United and Leeds.
Details of Redknapp's private financial dealings as a manager were laid bare as the man widely tipped as England's next football manager appeared in the dock.
Opening the case, Mr Black said: "The Crown's case is that the money transfers to the offshore Monaco account were deliberately and dishonestly paid by Mr Mandaric, and deliberately and dishonestly received by Mr Redknapp, with the intention of concealing them from the authorities and the payment of tax."
Mr Black said "both parties must have known" they were avoiding taxes.
"These payments were a bung or offshore bonus that the parties had absolutely no intention of paying taxes for," he said.
Redknapp's "widespread popularity" was singled out by the prosecution.
"He is currently enjoying what may be described as footballing success," Mr Black said, referring to Tottenham's current standing as third in the Premier League.
Redknapp first flew out to Monaco - a tax haven - in April 2002 to set up the account, the Crown claims.
"He flew to Monaco for the specific purpose of setting up a secret account, into which the off-the-record payments could be received," Mr Black said.
Mr Black said the first time the British authorities knew of the Monaco account was in November 2006.
"It's significant, the Crown suggests, that the bank account opened by Mr Redknapp was located in an offshore tax haven.
"The Crown suggests this was quite deliberate and was intended to obscure and to render less transparent the nature of the money payments."
Redknapp and Mandaric deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when he was manager of Portsmouth Football Club.