Redknapp ‘had bungs put into Monaco account’

Accused with him is his former boss at Portsmouth, Milan Mandaric, now chairman of Sheffield Wednesday.

Yesterday, sitting together behind bullet-proof glass, they both denied two charges of cheating the public.

Redknapp, 64, the most successful English manager in the modern game, led Portsmouth to FA Cup success and his latest club, Tottenham Hotspur, to last season’s Uefa Champions League quarter-finals.

Mandaric, a 73-year-old Serb, went from Portsmouth to Leicester City before arriving at Sheffield Wednesday.

John Black, QC, opening the government case at Southwark Crown Court, said Redknapp, now the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, was “unusually talented”.

He said: “They (Spurs ) are currently riding high and are placed today as third in the league, despite yesterday’s result.”

Redknapp was therefore “no ordinary employee” even while at Portsmouth.

Mr Black said: “He had the greatest capacity to influence the success or failure of his football club.”

He added: “Talented and popular he might have been. The Crown say he was nevertheless a hard-headed businessman, with a financial acumen and pecuniary sense of his influence to his employers.”

He said Redknapp had a “highly lucrative employment contract” with Portsmouth, which initially included 10 percent of net profits made on player transfers. That was later reduced to five percent but one way and another he was due bonuses totalling up to £500,000 during his time at the club – including a cut of £3m profit on the sale of Peter Crouch.

The first charge against both defendants alleges that between April 1 2002 and November 28 2007 Mandaric paid $145,000 (£93,100) into a bank account held by Redknapp in Monaco, to avoid paying income tax and National Insurance.

The second charge relates to $150,000 (£96,300) allegedly paid by Mandaric to the same account between May 1 2004 and November 28 2007.

Mr Black told the jury: “These payments were a bung or offshore bonus that the parties had absolutely no intention of paying taxes for.”

He said Redknapp flew to Monaco in April 2002 to set up an account called Rosie 47 – referring to his pet dog and his year of birth.

Between January 2004 and October 2006, he was investigated by HM Revenue & Customs over profits he was thought to have made while at West Ham United, before Portsmouth. He did not mention the Monaco account and it was not discovered until November 06, when Lord Stevens, a former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, interviewed him at the beginning of a more general inquiry into illicit payments in football.

The case continues today, when the prosecution will continue outlining its case.