Let me summarise for anyone still trying to get their head around whether the club has been accused of fraud and, if so, why the authorities aren't banging the club's back doors in. Literally and figuratively.
Firstly, this is a breach of contract case. The allegations are that the club breached its contract with the PL. Which is why the referral to the panel doesn't mention the word "fraud", only the alleged breaches of the rules that form part of the contract. It's not a criminal case, no-one is going to jail following the panel's decision.
But, the combination of allegations (presenting errors in the accounts, disguising equity injections, acting in bad faith, failing FFP) do effectively represent fraudulent activity if proven, and the civil sanctions can be punitive. City's lawyers made this point at CAS, CAS agreed and you can be sure the club's lawyers will be doing the same in front of the panel. Why? Because it raises the cogency of the evidence required to prove the allegations. It is generally accepted on here that there is little chance the PL have the evidence to prove their most serious allegations. The higher cogency makes it almost impossible, imho.
So, if the allegations effectively represent fraudulent activity, why aren't the authorities at the Etihad now? Well, there is no definitive answer because no two situations are the same, but let me ask you this. If you were head of the SFO, you had seen UEFA's charges and how they were dismissed, you had followed the PL's allegations, but have no knowledge of the PL's evidence, other than the fact it should most probably be based on the same as UEFA's evidence, what would you do? Go into the PL and the Etihad all guns blazing with your limited resources to get to the bottom of it? Or wait until the panel comes to a conclusion and then decide what to do? I think that is an easy decision, tbh, especially given the way CAS dealt with UEFA's charges.
All imho, of course, and open to being bashed by the lawyers on here.
