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BIH: Questions Over Carson’s Funding Of The Company
Birmingham International Holdings released a statement to the stock exchange regarding it’s continuing efforts to get the company relisted on the exchange.
The announcement is rather long and concerns two reviews that were done by the company into their operations and financial dealings. Disappointingly, it did not address the bid made by Gianni Paladini’s consortium as disclosed last week on the Tom Ross radio programme.
The first review concerns the way the company is run, and as one would expect the reviewing company found lots of ways that things are done incorrectly and have made suggestions for what needs to be changed. It is an ongoing review process and will be revisited in December of this year.
The second review looks at the way Carson Yeung has interacted financially with BIH and is much more interesting. Firstly, it makes note of monies that have been paid into Birmingham International Holdings that originally purported to be from Carson but in fact were from third parties and were repaid directly to Carson. It also makes note that the loan paid into Birmingham City FC that purported to come from Carson came from unknown third parties and that in both cases there is negligible paperwork.
This statement confirms as fact something that has been in the club accounts for some time – that the money loaned to the club from Carson didn’t come from the erstwhile president and that due to the lack of financial records there is no way of knowing when it is due and on what terms. What it doesn’t do is name those third parties and this is the bit I am morbidly interested in – if the money has come from other people in Hong Kong I would be happier than say if it came from a tax haven such as the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands or somewhere like Macau.
The announcement stresses that Carson’s former solicitors in his trial have previously given a written statement that these details do not affect Carson’s trial. I think this is a very, very cynical move – those solicitors were sacked about three weeks ago and it strikes me that paragraph is a way of creating a paper trail so if there is some direct consequence there is someone to blame.
There has been the interpretation that Carson has been hung out to dry by this statement but I don’t think that’s the case either. A statement had to be made to get the company relisted; I think what they have done is released as little damning information as possible in a damage limitation exercise with the hope it’s enough. They’ve covered their backs by blaming the solicitors if it drags into Carson’s trial – and I should note here that the prosecution counsel certainly seemed to be aware of it this morning in court – and they haven’t named anybody or incriminated anyone. They have also protected the club from further investigation in the announcement.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of the court case the next few days. The club have been mentioned already and the question has already been floated about money being laundered via the club. I think that this statement could be the tip of an iceberg; whether it’s the iceberg that finally sinks the good ship BIH is another story.
Tags: BIH, Carson Yeung
24 Responses to “BIH: Questions Over Carson’s Funding Of The Company”
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Curiouser & Curiouser , indeed the plot thickens, the next few days are going to be very interesting , we eagerly await the next segment in the BCFC BIH saga or is that Soap Opera.
KRO
My response to the last paragraph…if guilty then of course, that would be a perfect way of laundering money wouldn’t it!
Any sale of the club would expose many skeletons in the cupboard. Maybe the reluctance to sell?
I smelt a rat after seeing that first photo, with Denham? and Wiseman. Then there was the pub night and then installing Yu at Wast Hills. It all just seemed to me lacking in professionalism but it the wave of optimism and then the invincible run I just forgot about it.
My instincts appear right after all the listing problems with BIH. Whether the £70m + (remember BIH didn’t pay £1 each for all the shares) was just bad business or something more sinister perhaps even the trial won’t clarity
Ps In that first photo Pannu looks like the only one looking business-like.
Denham?, do you mean Dunford ?
You can’t help thinking that all this money that has come from Third parties is the reason why Carson is in in discussions with Hong Kong based parties.
It looks like there is at least one and possibly more investors in Carson’s stake already, leads you to the next question – will he be the majority shareholder when debt is called in
As good a writer as you are, you should have been an investigater, KRO
Mayor if you get your chance with yeung again ask him if he knows that pannu has been signing things over here regarding a takeover with paladini group,my feeling is Carson doesn’t know what pp is up to most of the time.
Yeung comes across as pretty hapless.
Sullivan and Gold soon had him sussed and like them or not, those boys are pretty shrewd and business savvy.
Not surprised BIHL are concerned about ‘funding’.
Theres no more parachute payments left and all assets have been ‘disposed of’.
spot on frankie, theold board skinned him like a rabbit, I have absolutely no issues with that however, they are top businessmen, and why look a gift horse in the mouth!
KRO
How much did The loans come to are we talking millions?
Great reporting again from the Far East Dan. We know CY’s financial position is desperate as he cant even raise funds to save his house. My concern is that that there is no incentive for him to sell the club prior to court verdict because he would not be able to access the cash raised from the sale due to CY’s asset freeze. Therefore, he might as well hang on to the shares in the hope that he wins the court case. As there is insufficient proof of where the funds emanated that originally purchased the club it seems that the Hong Kong authorities are likely sequestrate the shares. I would really like to know the likeley scenario that would then develop and what option the HK authorities would have.
I would just like to congratulate you on another great piece.
It’s a really good post and a fascinating read.
None of us would know a fraction of this information without these updates.
The Mail has ran a fictional article on Warnoch not getting a job that doesn’t exist today, that was claimed by another paper owned by their parent group.
Without these posts we wouldn’t have a clue to what is going on, and for that THANKS Dan
I eagerly await your next post
Try reading the HKSE announcements mates, that’s all there is to it
Well done Al, I tried and failed to get my head round that release. This stuff about 3rd parties paying monies into the club, with little or no paperwork and then it being repaid to CY is worrying. It just sounds like money laundering to me if so, doesn’t that implicate the club in all this mess? Also will anyone ever get to the bottom of CYs financial dealings?
Brilliant work mate.
By the way, what (if anything) should we read into the fact that the announcement was signed by
Ma Shui Cheong
Executive Director
not Peter Pannu as he generally is the guy signing these HKSE documents.
Good point.
again brilliant investigating well done, and spot on, Carson owes the monies used to buy the club to 2 indiviuals near to Hong Kong , they are themselves very,very wealthy, and indeed after recent press , the Tom Ross show etc and the on going court case , in straight terms want there monies back, the plot thickens again.
Apparently Carson according to reports has now put the club up for sale @ 400million HK Dollars circa £32m pounds? but with conditions which are laughable, 50 per cent up front, the board to retain 2 members approved by himself from HK-etc,etc, only a complete fool would even think about it
So the circus continues-the final act will either bring the house down or the club?
Great article again…And it is true we would not know most of what we do without them. Just hope this is done and dusted as soon as possible. Carson has seemed a sap from the start in all fairness. Hopefully these next few days in court will go quickly to allow the verdict to be delivered ASAP and potentially help our stricken club to move forward after this disaster. For once I just hope we get some decent/honest owners with no more spin or dishonesty. Is it not about time we had this!?
Obviously there is no obvious movement on the takeover and probably wont be until CY’s trial has concluded for good. But hopefully GP can takeover as he seems to have the club’s best interests at heart…although as we all know first appearances can be deceptive
DAN – from your reports Carson does not appear to be playing the broken man syndrome ….. ……..
Just read a paper from Exeter uni on the methods and stages of money laundering a very good read.
People will want their money back so until that is achieved one way or another then BCFC will remain a vehicle for making money. Or we go down into Admin, even then I think it will get very messy way more than it is now.
Great reporting, hope someone recognises your talent, and rewards you with an investigative journalism role……whatever will you do once this saga is finished, if not?
Keep up the great work.
All I am saying is…. If I was going to launder money I would buy a football club to do it! Lots of big money in and out transactions would be ideal. Oh and I would pay over the odds for it!!
On a lighter note when this mess is all over I’d live to see a documentary made about how it all went down. Think it would be better then the 4 year plan and highlight this problem English football is having with foreign chancers wrecking our game
Again, well done, Dan. Personally I’ve wondered for some time whether BCFC was only purchased ‘as a financial vehicle to process monies from indeterminate sources’.
Your diligence seems to suggest that this may well be the case.
It doesn’t look good, does it?