The Carlos Tevez transfer saga underwent another twist as a Brazilian judge issued arrest warrants to Kia Joorbachian and Boris Berezovsky for money laundering. The charges allege that Joorbachian and Berezovksy as partners in MSI, the company that owns Corinthians, used a complex system of off shore accounts for illegal monetary transactions involving the transfer of players. Joorabchian’s MSI assets have been frozen by Brazilian authorities.
“The [MSI] transactions are carried out with the use of numerous offshore accounts which have the single and well-known intention of distancing the investor and the illicit origin of the resources from their final destination, in this case the purchase and sale of [football] players,” the federal attorneys Silvio Luis Martins de Oliveira and Rodrigo de Grandis were reported as saying by the Brazilian legal website consultor Juridico.
What is the implication of all of this? It just added another level of complexity to the Carlos Tevez transfer saga. Kia Joorabchian and MSI are insisting that they have the economic rights to Carlos Tevez with Man Utd ready to deal directly with them. However the Premier League is insisting that part of the proceeds should go to West Ham, should the transfer go through. Joorabchian is ready to ask FIFA to intercede and settle this in his favour. Something tells me that FIFA is not going to listen to a suspected felon and neither will the Premier League after learning that MSI players and the transfer money paid for them is funneled illegally through a series of bank accounts. The PL will be even more insistent that West Ham be one of the beneficiaries.
It is hard for me to see Man Utd doing anything other agree to pay up the fee the PL feels belongs to West Ham. The question is will they? Kia Joorabchian just lost the last shred of credibility that he had.