Arsenal-Beveren Case Dropped
Belgian police have dropped the case against Arsenal and Beveren relating to the alleged wrongdoings highlighted on BBC’s NewsNight program.
Speaking to the Belgian news agency, Belga, a spokesman for the prosecutor stated that both clubs weren’t involved in any illegal financial activity, there was no case to answer and the investigations have been terminated.
Well, that’s that then. I wonder if NewsNight (and their Spurs-supporting producer) will tender an apology over sensationalizing an issue which, well, wasn’t an issue in the first place.
However, FIFA have yet to make a statement on the issue, and judging from Blatter’s lukewarm response to the matter, I doubt they will pursue the matter any further, either. Still not fully done with, yet. I’ll feel a lot better when FIFA and the FA withdraw their statements as well.
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Discussion - 2 Responses
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I’m a Gooner and I’m quite sure that there really isn’t a case to answer over these allegations.
But there never actually was a case being investigated by the Belgian police. They were looking into money laundering by the Mafia and came across the payment made to Beveren. They in turn related this to someone at the BBC. Then the BBC in all their non-biased ways decided to report it on Newsnight.
Only reason I’m saying this is that I keep reading that the case has been dropped, but there never was a case in the first place. The only thing we need to worry about (if worry is the right word) is the investigation by our FA. But again I’m sure we’ll be totally cleared of any wrongdoing (at least we will if everything about this”case” is correct)
Will the FA now investigate the issue?
The media had a much bigger role to play in hyping up the issue - so much so that it forced FIFA to send a letter to the FA asking them to find out if there is any truth to the matter.
I would suspect that nothing more will happen, except the FA saying that if the Belgian police have found nothing, the case should be closed.