Just when things were starting to look up at Elland Road, it seems the club could yet be thrown into turmoil when an Italian court publishes a judgement on Cellino’s tax evasion case. Yet as ever, it’s not clear what the dithering Football League are going to do about it.
Back in April the Football League tried to block Cellino’s takeover of Leeds after he had been found guilty of failing to pay over £300,000 import duty when he brought his luxury yacht Nelie back to Italy from the US. But when Cellino appealed, an independent QC allowed the takeover to go through, as there was no evidence at the time that he had acted dishonestly.
This left everybody waiting for the court’s written judgement, which has been a long time coming, as the wheels of the legal system tend to turn rather slowly in Italy. But the Guardian are now claiming to have seen the report, which apparently leaves no doubt that Cellino would fail the League’s ‘fit and proper persons’ test.
The judgement from Dr Sandra Lepore, accuses Cellino of "elusive intent” and setting up a "bogus corporate screen” to avoid import duty on the yacht by setting up a complex series of transactions involving several of his companies. This would clearly put him in breach of League regulations which prevent individuals who "have unspent convictions for offences of dishonesty” from being directors of clubs, exercising control over them, or owning more than 30% of the shares.
But Cellino won’t go quietly, and his lawyer Giovanni Cocco was scathing about the judge’s report. "That document is unpresentable. It is full to the brim of errors of merit and of law. It does not take into account what emerged in the trial — that is to say, that nothing implicates Cellino. I have already … lodged an appeal and have also completely demolished the [judge’s] reasoning.”
So Cellino could manage to spin this out for some time so he can hold onto Leeds United for a while longer, but he is also facing two other charges of avoiding import duty, which are due to be heard next month. One concerns a Land Rover and the other another, smaller, yacht, named Lucky 23, a name that may be sadly inappropriate. It’s no surprise that he denies these charges as well.
And yet the Football League had nothing to say in the wake of the Guardian’s revelations, apart from to confirm that is still hadn’t received the report from Italy. Previously their chief executive Shaun Harvey said that the case was "a cloud hanging over” Cellino’s ownership of the club. You’d think Harvey would know something about ‘bogus corporate screens’ after his time as Ken Bates right hand man while the man from Monaco owned Leeds United via a complex web of companies.
But it was revealed 10 days ago that the League has not formally requested a copy of the report from the court in Cagliari. And League rules require owners and directors to inform it of issues which might breach its regulations, rather than requiring the governing body to look for breaches itself. So technically the League won’t be able to do anything unless Cellino decides to grass himself up!
So who knows how much longer this is all going to drag on for. We’ll just have to hope that if and when Cellino is dragged kicking and screaming out of the Leeds United boardroom there will be another investor on hand to pick up the pieces. And will be far more likely if it looks like we’ve got a chance of getting back to the Premier League.