Redknapp Denies ‘Bung’ Claims

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp reacted angrily as he denied taking bungs, a court heard on Tuesday.

Redknapp also said Milan Mandaric ”don’t know what he is f****** talking about” in a 2009 telephone conversation with a News of the World reporter, who had spoken to Portsmouth chairman Mandaric days earlier.

In short extracts read out to a jury at Southwark Crown Court, Redknapp told the paper’s Rob Beasley he had ”the best accountants in England”, claiming the Inland Revenue was fully aware of his dealings in Monaco.

When Beasley described how Mandaric said the money sent to Redknapp’s offshore accounts were investments outside football, the Tottenham manager replied: ”He don’t know what he is f****** talking about. What is he talking about? It is a bonus.”

Explaining that the payments surrounded profit made on the sale of Peter Crouch from Portsmouth to Aston Villa, Redknapp added: ”If it was something dodgy I would have gone over there and brought it back in a briefcase.”

When Beasley asked him whether he had paid any tax in the UK on it, Redknapp replied: ”Haven’t been asked to, Rob” and went on to say: ”There ain’t nothing crooked in it”.

When asked if it was a ‘bung’, Redknapp replied: ”Don’t say bung. It’s nothing to do with a bung. It’s paid by the chairman. How can it be a bung when the chairman of the football club paid me? What’s a bung? It’s a f****** sick word.”

According to the transcript, he told Mandaric: ”I don’t want to have a problem with the tax man. They was aware of it from day one.”

When asked about the bonus clause in his contract, Redknapp said: ”My accountant has got my contract … I’m not going to f****** show you.”

He added: ”The Inland Revenue know all about it. I’ve got nothing to defend, Rob. I ain’t done nothing wrong … I ain’t done nothing wrong, Rob. I got paid a bonus … everyone is aware of it.”

Redknapp subsequently told police ”I don’t fiddle”, the court heard, as John Black QC, prosecuting, read out an interview which took place with a detective four months later in June.

The manager was said to have told a detective: ”I said to him many, many times ‘Milan, I don’t want to end up with a tax bill. I was told I wasn’t liable for income tax on so many occasions. For the sake of that amount of money or any amount of money, I don’t fiddle. I pay my tax since I have been in football my entire life. I pay every penny.”

Redknapp’s account differed from what Mandaric told Mr Beasley on February 26 2009, the Crown claim. Mandaric was said to have told Mr Beasley that the payments to the Monaco account were nothing to do with Portsmouth securing promotion to the Premier League.

Redknapp declared his Monaco account to inspectors less than two weeks before joining Spurs, the prosecution allege.