Birmingham deep in it

http://www.sundaymercury.net/midlan...n-yeung-to-have-assets-frozen-66331-29025730/

BIRMINGHAM City owner Carson Yeung is facing having his assets frozen – plunging the club into financial turmoil.
The embattled businessman and controlling shareholder at Blues is facing the shock financial action from the Chinese Government, it was claimed last night.
The Attorney General in Hong Kong, where Yeung is currently awaiting trial on money laundering charges, is said to be poised to make an application to freeze his assets, along with those of ex-wife Lee Yongshi and an investment company.

The prospect of the legal action was reported widely in the Hong Kong press on Friday night, including the respected Hong Kong Standard and Wen Wei Po.
Birmingham City fan websites, including Often Partisan, picked up on the worrying development – which the club is refusing to comment on.
It is unclear exactly how Yeung having his assets frozen could affect the Blues, now seemingly stumbling from one crisis to the next.
But football expert Professor Ellis Cashmore, a sports lecturer at the University of Staffordshire, believes the move would prove disastrous for the football club, who were relegated from the Premiership in May. He said: “If Birmingham City are included in his personal assets then that means 23 per cent of the club is frozen – because that is how many shares he personally owns.
“And if it is confirmed then it means the crisis really has arrived for Blues – just a month before the season begins.’’
He added: ‘‘Morale at the club must be sinking day by day.
“What we do know for certain is that as it stands, right now, the club’s income will not match expenditure next year.
“The players have already taken pay cuts to play in the Championship. If Yeung has his assets frozen, then they may have to face even more cuts.
“Everybody already knows how hard it is to compete with a skeleton staff in a very competitive league, so this could be disastrous for the club financially.”
Carson Yeung, 51, appeared in court on June 30 on five charges of laundering up to £59 million between 2001 and 2007.
The move followed an investigation by specialist drugs enforcement detectives in Hong Kong and relates to five different bank accounts.

The Sunday Mercury understands that three are in Yeung’s name and two are registered to his father – pictured above with his son for the first time.
If found guilty of the offences, Birmingham City’s enigmatic owner could face up to 14 years in jail and be stripped of his shareholding in Blues. Yeung is on £600,000 bail until a hearing on August 11, has been forced to surrender his passport and must report regularly to police.
Meanwhile, it also emerged last night that the soccer tycoon recently faced legal action over an unrelated £1.6 million property deal in Hong Kong. According to newspaper reports in China, businessman Peter Ong issued a High Court writ for possession of a luxury flat belonging to Yeung and his ex-wife, Lee Yongshi.
Ong claims the property was supposed to go to him in 2008 as security against payment of £1.6 million that Yeung promised him for acting as middleman in the acquisition of a Chinese-language newspaper, the Sing Pao Daily News.

Yeung is believed to have spent at least £84 million on the Blues since he took over and runs the club having the title of President and by holding 94 percent of parent company Birmingham International Holdings (BIH).
The company is listed in Hong Kong but registered in the Cayman Islands.
Trading in shares of BIH, formerly known as Grandtop International Holdings, is currently suspended.
Yeung had previously raised £80 million through a share placement to buffer the finances at St Andrews.
But shares in BIH plummeted by 43 per cent at the end of last month, before trading was suspended.
The most recent Birmingham City accounts show club debt stands at more than £30 million, of which nearly £2 million is owed to HSBC. The club’s freehold land and buildings, including St Andrews, have been pledged to the bank as security.
Under Football League rules, any director of a club must step down if convicted in a case involving dishonesty.
Prof Cashmore said: “This really is unknown territory for British football and if the Chinese Government do freeze his assets everyone associated with the club will need to hold their breath.
“It leaves us with the unthinkable scenario that the Hong Kong authorities might step in and become the majority shareholder of Birmingham City.
“And one thing is for sure: if that were to occur, they would seek to get rid of it in double quick time.
“It’s like defaulting on your mortgage payments.
‘‘The bank will want to get their money back as soon as possible and would not care where they get it from.
“Of course, Mr Yeung could still be cleared of all charges and freed. But even a temporary freezing of his assets could have very negative consequences for the club in the long term.
“Birmingham City needs direction and leadership as well as financial support – and they appear to have lost all of that now.”
Yeung has always been a mysterious figure with little known about his early business years.
He is often described as beginning his professional career as a mere hairdresser.
Yet insiders claim the truth is that Yeung became very successful by opening a string of high class salons in luxury hotels across Hong Kong in the 1990s.
At one point the future soccer boss apparently earned nearly £10,000 a month from his hairdressing and cleverly invested it in other projects.
Yeung gradually built his business empire with shrewd property deals in mainland China, as well as being heavily involved with the multi-billion pound Macau gambling industry.
On a personal level, it is believed that he first married Lee Yongshi but they later split.
He is currently living with his second wife, believed to be called Man Wang-Li, and they live in a luxury mansion in the exclusive Victoria Peak district of Hong Kong.
Yeung has two children, a teenage boy and a baby girl.
The Blues supremo is very close to his father, who is named as account holder for two of the accounts being investigated by police.
Last night, Birmingham City declined to comment on the prospect of Yeung’s assets being frozen.
A spokesman pointed to a statement recently released by parent company, BIH, which distanced the club from the controversy.
It read: “The company wishes to announce that so as far as it is aware, having taken steps to ascertain the same, the alleged offences against Mr Yeung do not relate to the company nor to Birmingham City Football Club.”

 

It could spell disaster for the blues, Sgt. It just shows what crooks some of these, so-called rich, foreign owners are. You have to feel sorry for the fans whose hopes are raised when someone comes in to 'rescue' clubs with wild promises to spend big and build a succesful football club. Alex McCleish got out at the right time it appears but Ifeel sorry for Chris Houghton who is an honest manager who was treated badly by Mike Ashley at Newcastle and now could find himself in a difficult situation at Birmingham. There really needs to be a more robust system of vetting these rogue owners. Even with all the current debates over who TP ought to sign in this transfer window at least the club is in a strong financial position with an English owner.

 

Agreed mate. Reading stuff like this makes me grateful for having a chairman who knows how to run a football club.

 

Too right Sgt, and we Stoke fans are complaining I hope they jail the bent B£££££D. God help Birmingham City but it's not really our business.

 

Poor old Brum (stiffled snigger). Still remember the 0-7 thumping they gave us at the Brit during our relegation season!