Winding up order - Official PFC Statement

The club have just issued a statement expressing their shock at the issue of a winding up order by HMRC.

It reads - 'Portsmouth Football Club has not been formally served with a winding up petition and is shocked and surprised this action has been taken in respect of VAT, PAYE and National Insurance Contributions which either have been, or are about to be paid, or are disputed.

The club is disputing the VAT amount outstanding and has formally notified HMRC of this. We expect HMRC to withdraw their demands forthwith.

Otherwise we anticipate a hearing being held in early January 2010 during which we will request that the High Court order HMRC to withdraw their demands.

Since the takeover by Ali Al Faraj in October 2009, extreme efforts have been made to reach payment arrangements with HMRC to allow the owner time to deal with inherited debt.

To date the new owner has injected a total of £9.7m of new funds to HMRC - £5.7m paid and security to the value of £4M.

In such a tough economic environment the club finds it hard to understand this action by HMRC.

It is well known that the business has been in a difficult position following former owners` decisions and the current owner is committed to resolving this and moving forward.'

Certainly eye opening stuff with expressions such as 'have been, or are about to be paid, or are disputed' and 'new owner has injected a total of £9.7m of new funds to HMRC'

Where is the truth? HMRC rarely get it wrong certainly not ot the extent of issuing winding up orders.

Rushed this out to give you all the information before rushing off to game.

PUP

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