CHIMBONDA IN SOME STRIFE:
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Tottenham defender arrested in fraud probe
By CHARLES SALE - More by this author »
Last updated at 13:21pm on 13th September 2007
Tottenham right back Pascal Chimbonda, one of the top defenders in the Premier League, can be revealed as the footballer arrested by police in a hush-hush operation this week as part of their major probe into football corruption.
Chimbonda, 28, was taken into custody on Monday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and bailed until October. The football investigative team who are part of the 150-strong economic crime unit of the City of London police carried out the questioning which is believed to involve Chimbonda's move from Bastia to Wigan two years ago.
The unit, furnished with the findings of the Lord Stevens report that examined 362 transfers over a 15-month period,wanted to keep the arrest of Chimbonda private. Both Spurs and Chimbonda's previous club, Wigan, would make no comment yesterday — having received stern police warnings about possibly jeopardising further work on the case.
It is expected that the London police will now move quickly to make other arrests, including high-profile Premiership footballers and well-known football personalities.
The questioning of France international Chimbonda, voted the Premiership's best right back in 2005-06, is understood to involve his transfer from French club Bastia to Wigan for £500,000 in July 2005 as well as his contract renegotiations six months later which contained a £1.5million get-out clause.
Wigan chairman Dave Whelan and chief executive Brenda Spencer were interviewed by City of London police before the swoop for Chimbonda although the Wigan administrative pair are in no way implicated in any wrongdoing.
Chimbonda moved to Spurs for £4.5m on the last day of the 2006 summer transfer window following fraught negotiations with Wigan.
The Lancashire club were furious that the player had asked for a move on the final day of the 2005-06 Premiership, having signed an improved contract only halfway through the season.
However, Tottenham had received a clean bill of health from the Stevens Quest investigative team and it is not thought that Chimbonda's move to White Hart Lane is under question.
Chimbonda's agent, Willie McKay, said: 'I had a call from Pascal this morning and he told me he had answered some police questions, but it's nothing. They're scraping the barrel.'
The Stevens Report last June detailed 17 transfers that the inquiry team were unable to sign off because of doubts about them.
McKay was involved in three: Jean Alain Boumsong's £8m move from Rangers to Newcastle; Aliou Cisse's £300,000 transfer from Birmingham to Portsmouth in 2004; and Amdy Faye's £2m move from Portsmouth to Newcastle in 2005.
The Stevens findings also held back details of one transfer so that a separate City of London Police inquiry would not be jeopardised.
McKay's friends believe the agent, based in France before returning to England to set up a racing stables, is being unfairly targeted by police as part of a witchhunt against him.
One said: 'Willie was told three years ago by a number of football chairmen that the authorities were gunning for him. It's just jealousy from other agents at his success at organising transfers.'
McKay was also baffled by Stevens' request for the FA to investigate further why one of his horses, Double Fantasy, was renamed Harry Redknapp for PR purposes. The unsuccessful horse had a paltry value of around £500.
The FA are just completing the transfer of the 100 bulging files containing the work of the Quest investigators from the Premier League, who commissioned the £1.3m Stevens Report in February 2006, following allegations about bung taking made by former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson in the 'fake sheik' newspaper sting.
It is up to the FA, as English football's governing body, to take action if necessary on the Stevens evidence. But it was always more likely that the police would respond more quickly than the slow-moving FA compliance unit, who are working closely with the City of London police.
The police had already been involved in two prominent actions prior to Chimbonda's arrest. In May they arrested a 61-year-old man in Manchester on suspicion of money laundering. In July, officers raided Newcastle, Portsmouth and Rangers, taking away computers and paperwork.
