http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2944274/Pompey-560k-Diarra-probe.html
PORTSMOUTH administrator Andrew Andronikou is to investigate a £560,000 fee the club owe an unlicensed agent.
Chris Le Besque is one of Pompey's long line of creditors who are owed a staggering £119million.
Le Besque, from Renens in Switzerland, is listed under a heading 'agents and scouting fees' and the money is believed to be connected with the £20m sale of Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid last year.
But there is no trace of a Chris Le Besque among FIFA's official licensed agents, who are the only ones allowed to deal with transfers or contracts of players.
FIFA's rulebook states:
1. Players' agent: a natural person who, for a fee, introduces players to clubs with a view to negotiating or renegotiating an employment contract or introduces two clubs to one another with a view to concluding a transfer agreement, in compliance with the provisions set forth in these regulations.
2. Licence: an official certificate issued by the relevant association enabling a natural person to act as a players' agent.
Former Portsmouth chief Peter Storrie last night refused to discuss the payment to Le Besque or explain what the agent did to earn the money.
But Andronikou said: "I will be looking into it. He will need to send me an invoice to explain exactly what the £560,000 debt is all about.
"We will assess it and if it is an unauthorised payment then he won't be paid a penny, it's as simple as that."
Le Besque was unavailable for comment last night.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/586664-dubai-law-firm-owed-355000-by-portsmouth-fc
A Dubai-based law firm is owed $355,000 in agent’s fees by Portsmouth FC, according to the English Premier League club’s administrators.
As revealed in a financial report to creditors released on Wednesday, Fichte & Co is one of more than 400 companies and individuals owed money by the troubled football club.
Fichte, which has an address on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road, is owed £230,000 ($355,000) according to a section of the document headed ‘Agents and Scouting Fees’.
Axel Jacob, a legal consultant with the firm, told Arabian Business that the fee was owed for services offered on the transfer of Algerian midfielder Nadir Belhadj from RC Lens to Portsmouth in 2008.
“At first the player was taken on a loan basis and later the transfer was properly formalized,” said Jacob. “The agency fee agreed was altogether £330,000 ($508,000) payable in tranches of which £100,000 have been paid around February 2009. The remainder has not been paid.
“Negotiations had taken place which resulted in some agreement to delay instalments, however the recent appointment of an administrator obviously has rendered those attempts futile,” he added.
The contract was negotiated and concluded by licenced player agent Gunter M. Albert, who has a cooperation agreement with Fichte to work on transfer negotiations and image rights negotiations, among other things.
The same agent was at the centre of controversy in 2005 when it emerged that he had received an 18-month suspended sentence for being an accessory to the diversion of funds and concealing goods coming from a criminal act.
Albert helped his business partner Fabien Piveteau misappropriate funds during Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien’s move from the Corsican club Bastia to French club Lyon in 2003. It later emerged that the funds, unbeknownst to Albert, were to be used to finance a terrorist enterprise.
Jacob said that Fichte had been aware of Albert’s previous conviction, but said that this had not affected the firm’s decision to hire him.
“At the time of conclusion of our association with Mr. Albert roundabout in 2006 we had the opportunity to form our own opinion of the events around Mr Piveteau,” he said.
Portsmouth, who will be relegated from the Premier League at the end of the current season, have total debts of £119m ($184m). Other Middle East creditors include Abu Dhabi businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim, who is owed £5m ($7.7m) in unsecured loans to the club.
