CAS judgement: UEFA ban overturned, City exonerated (report out p603)

PannickAtTheDisco said:
218. It is UEFA's case that Mr Pearce represented ADUG and that he made arrangements
with MCFC's Abu Dhabi-based sponsors on behalf of ADUG.

219. The Panel notes that Mr Pearce is a key witness in these proceedings and a key person
in the Leaked Emails. The Panel will therefore elaborate on his role in the arrangements discussed in the Leaked Emails and whether he indeed represented ADUG, as maintained by the Adjudicatory Chamber in the quote set out above.

220. Mr Pearce is not only a non-executive director of MCFC, but he was also the director
of the Executive Affairs Authority of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (the "EAA") and later
a special advisor to its chairman, Mr Khaldoon AI Mubarak, who is also the chairman
ofMCFC. The Panel is prepared to accept that Mr Pearce could "help in facilitating the
amounts due" to MCFC, as refened to in Leaked Email No. 3. The Panel also accepts
that Mr Pearce was close to HHSM and ADUG and may therefore have exercised a
certain influence over the Abu Dhabi-based sponsors ofMCFC and negotiate deals with
them, but the Panel finds that it has not been established that he was also authorised to
conclude contracts on behalf of HHSM and/or ADUG, i.e. it was by no means a given
that an email requesting Mr Pearce to act in a certain way would undoubtedly be
executed.

221. During his examination at the hearing, when asked the question "have you ever
arranged any payments to be made to Etihad in relation to its sponsorship obligations
of Manchester City Football Club?", Mr Pearce answered: "Absolutely, categorically
not". Mr Pearce did not strike the Panel as being an unreliable witness, and indeed
upholding UEFA's allegations would necessarily require a finding that Mr Pearce's
testimony was false. The Panel does not find such conclusion to be warranted in the
absence of evidence being presented by UEF A that Mr Pearce in fact represented
ADUG.

222. UEFA relies on Leaked Document No. 1 to establish that Mr Pearce was making
anangements with MCFC's Abu Dhabi-based sponsors and arranged alternative funds
for such companies from HHSM and/or ADUG and that this demonstrates a pattern,
which also involves Etihad.

223. Mr Pearce disputes UEFA's reading of Leaked Email No. 1 and testified that the
reference to "His Highness" in such email was not a reference to HHSM as alleged by
UEFA, but to His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon AI Nahyan, the Chairman of
ADT A at the time.

224. The Panel has no reason to believe that Mr Pearce's testimony in this respect was
inaccurate and there is no evidence from UEFA suppmiing the allegation that the
reference to "His Highness" was in fact to HHSM. Accordingly, the Panel finds that it
must be concluded that UEFA failed to prove that Leaked Email No. 1 demonstrates
that Mr Pearce was entitled to conclude contracts at the behest of ADUG.

225. In any event, the Panel finds that a single email cannot establish a pattem whereby Mr
Pearce would consistently arrange altemative sources of funds from HHSM and/or
ADUG to contribute to the sponsorship obligations of MCFC's Abu Dhabi-based
sponsors. Leaked Email No. I was also sent 10 years ago and two years before the
implementation of the CLFFPR. So, even if true, at the time there would have been
nothing wrong with channelling equity funding through sponsors. There is no evidence
that similar arrangements were made after the implementation of the CLFFPR. The
Panel finds that insufficient evidence is available to conclude that Mr Pearce
represented ADUG vis-a-vis MCFC's Abu Dhabi-based sponsors with the aim of
disguising equity funding as sponsorship contributions.

Pretty clear in context the whole line of questioning was around Pearce representing ADUG which the emails do not show in the slightest. He was merely performing his role which CAS already outlined in point 220.
Click to expand...

Email 6 of the new leaks is not ideal re this point. As usual not enough for Uefa but not ideal.
74c3fcf4-ae89-47f3-bb85-d3ec21e460f1_w1528_r1.7730496453900708_fpx70.45_fpy52.93.jpg
 
domalino said:
1) der Spiegel have had those emails for years, and they didn't just look at a few, find their big stories in 2018 and then leave the rest alone. They will have dug through everything over the years.

2) City know what emails der Spiegel has, and what Pearce says in them, so it would be beyond amateurish to have him testify to something that could be proven false by emails already in the hands of a paper who would look through and find them. Given the supposed size of our legal team, someone must have prepared Pearce for his testimony thoroughly.
Click to expand...

I quite agree - this was a whole bunch of journos, not just DS, who looked through them.

If they had guaranteed really good evidence, why wouldn't they have just published them as they did with others?
 
It’s weird City done nothing to shut down these emails what is it 2 years they’ve had them.

These emails will be over us forever more at this rate.
 
Why are the new emails (assuming not doctored again) only coming to light now? What purpose do they serve?

The war is over, this I think will just make anyone with no dog in the fight, see what is really going on.

This was never about banning us from competition, yes that would be the icing on the cake but this is now laid bare for what it is. A tacky smear campaign.
 
projectriver said:
Good headline. But the melded email is really a non story IMO
Click to expand...

You've been nothing but negative this entire thing.

The fact they changed it is the issue not what they changed it to. How can you give them the credibility you are knowing the past DS has, including having to fire staff for making up stories and now editing and cherry picking emails.
 
So what are DS (and/or various other journos) expecting here - UEFA launch another investigation on the back of these emails, having just had a fairly humiliating time on the back of the last lot? I seriously doubt they are wanting to go down that road again unless they have a sworn statement from HHSM himself saying 'I did it - I gave them all the money'.
 
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