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West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan’s lawyers are today seeking a retraction of a story in The Times which they say wrongly claims he “acted illegally in his tax affairs” .
Sullivan is challenging their report that he illegally avoided £700,000 in tax after placing money into West Ham United from his family company in 2010.
The story adds that he had been ordered to pay back the money after a court ruled that he “deliberately tried to benefit from the transfer of £2 million” from his family company in 2010.
However, Sullivan claims the dispute is still not over as he is appealing the decision made by a tribunal adding that it was a civil not a criminal matter and therefore no illegality is involved,
He said: “The Tribunal took 18 months to give judgement. There was nothing illegal about it, just a dispute about whether a capital loss was allowable.
We were very open about everything and it was always subject to HMRC approval. That’s hardly an illegal act. I lost a dispute at a Tribunal, that I’m appealing. We are seeking a retraction from The Times.”
