Redknapp confident over tax allegations

The 62-year-old Londoner attended Bishopsgate police station in the capital to be charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue yesterday.

The move comes at the end of an exhaustive 26-month police and tax inquiry into alleged corruption in English football.

Charges concern two payments, totalling $295,000 (183,000), from former Portsmouth FC chairman Milan Mandaric to Mr Redknapp via a bank account in Monaco, evading the tax and National Insurance contributions due between April 1, 2002 and November 28, 2007.

Ian Burton, Redknapp's solicitor, said: "Harry has co-operated fully with investigators during the course of this inquiry and is confident of a successful outcome to these court proceedings."

"The 40,000 is our estimate," the solicitor added.

The Premier League manager will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on February 11, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said.

A statement added: "The CPS Revenue and Customs Division decided there was sufficient evidence and it was in the public interest to charge Mr Redknapp.

"He is jointly charged with Milan Mandaric, the former chairman of Portsmouth City Football Club, following an investigation by the City of London Police and HM Revenue & Customs."

Redknapp's arrest was part of a wider inquiry, dubbed Operation Apprentice, into alleged football corruption. He was held in November 2007 by investigators examining a number of transfer deals at his former club, Portsmouth, and at Birmingham City. The decision sparked a furious response from Redknapp, who accused police of targeting him because of his high profile.