Pompey chief exec charged with tax evasion

The chief executive of English Premier League strugglers Portsmouth was formally charged with tax evasion on Wednesday, a spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO) said.

Peter Storrie is accused over the transfer to Portsmouth of midfielder Amdy Faye from French club Auxerre for 1.5 million pounds (2.5 million dollars, 1.7 million euros) in August 2003.

It has been alleged that Faye was paid a signing-on fee of 250,000 pounds on which tax and national insurance was not paid.

The charge alleges that between July 1, 2003 and August 12, 2005, Storrie “cheated the public revenue” by arranging for the signing-on fee to be paid into the account of agent Willie McKay “to conceal its true nature and purpose”.

Storrie was informed of RCPO’s planned charges last month, and issued a statement expressing his “astonishment” and “bewilderment” at the accusations and promised to defend himself “in the strongest possible terms”.

He said he was “entirely confident that he will be exonerated”.

Storrie will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on November 16, the RCPO spokesman said.

Storrie was one of nine football figures questioned by police in a widespread probe into corruption within the English game, all of whom strongly denied any wrongdoing.