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Pompey win - and taxman will not appeal
POMPEY have won their High Court battle with the taxman.
Mr Justice Mann has announced in the High Court that he has found against an application by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs that the company voluntary arrangement brokered with creditors to bring the club out of administration was flawed.
And lawyers for the HMRC said they would not appeal today's judgment. Pompey's administrators immediately asked the court for 230,000 costs from the taxman.
Mr Justice Mann said: 'I find that none of the five heads of attack by HMRC amount to unfiar prejudice nor have they been materially affected.
'In my view, HMRC will not be worse off by the situation left by the CVA bearing in mind what the alternatives could be for the club.
'Those alternatives are liquidation, or expulsion from the Football League or worse, bearing in mind the loss of a lot of their assets.'
The judge saidc that without the Company Voluntary Agreement, there was no hope of keeping the club afloat.
He said: 'There is no worthwhile way of money coming into the club other than by the CVA.'
He said that in his opinion Balram Chainrai was the only possible new owner.
He said: 'Mr Chainrai was the owner of the club at the time of its demise and he is the only possible new owner now.
'There is no reason to suppose there is anyone else interested at all that would keep the club's status in the Championship.'
In a statement, HMRC said: 'HMRC is naturally disappointed not to have won this appeal and we can confirm that we do not intend to appeal.
'Our aim when pursuing debt of any kind is to achieve a fair outcome for the taxpayer and we will take this forward in the wider context of the football industry through separate and outstanding legal proceedings over the status of the so called "Football Creditors Rule.
'This is an important and complex judgment and until we have had the opportunity to study it in detail we can't comment further.'
For reaction to today's judgment click here
For a report of the build-up to the hearing, click here
FULL COVERAGE OF TODAY'S DECISION AND REACTION IN THE NEWS TOMORROW
Reaction here
For a report of the build-up to the hearing, click here
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Friday 10 February 2012
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