I post in its entirety but bold and repeat here at top the subject of this post:
"...the Premier League Commission has introduced an opinion that supports the Premier League's conspiracy theory."
Soriano is Spanish, not Arabic. According to Google AI he is fluent in six languages: Catalan (native), Spanish (native), English, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
I mention his language proficiency because the meaning of his English words above is the Premier League had a conspiracy theory about what Manchester City was doing. That is, it was City who conspired to hide the money. That's clear to everyone, correct?
I make that straightforward point because that's not what the (English) headlines say, viz,
Every word from Ferran Soriano message to Man City staff over Premier League 'conspiracy'
Manchester Evening News
Ferran Soriano called the club's guilty financial verdict part of a Premier League Conspiracy after an independent commission ruled against them.
ESPN
According to those headlines, Soriano said City were the victim of a conspiracy--by the Premier League. That is not what the man said...he should have but he didn't.
Now this is the money shot of this post: City did perpetrate a financial conspiracy against the EPL. They have been found guilty of 114 counts of a financial "sham". They will be punished for such.
It is also true, and not a defense (I don't think), as I wrote yesterday, that the EPL and other clubs in the EPL conspired against Manchester City. City won it's first Premier League title at the end of the 2011/12 season. The league's Profit and Sustainability rules went into effect the season after next, 2013/14. They were, as I wrote at the time, since, and recently, the Anti-Manchester City rules. That is the EPL's conspiracy against Manchester City's conspiracy.
The reason why I am pretty, very sure that the EPL's conspiracy against City is not a defense to City's conspiracy to cook the books is because the EPL's was not a secretive, illegal or against-the-rules conspiracy--it was a conspiracy done by the book, in the open, by adoption of a new rule approved in a vote of all league members including City who voted in favor of the P&S rules. If you want to play in the Premier League Abu Dhabi United Group you have to play by Premier League rules. City didn't and now is Shamchester City.
The only defense in Anglo-American jurisprudence (maybe they will have better luck before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)) that I can conjure is a City argument that the Premier League conspiracy against City continued after the P&S rules went into effect by non-enforcement. That is, the league strung City along, never inquiring, investigating or warning, "letting" City compete in their competitions and win trophy after trophy until Der Spiegel dumped their bucket of shit on City. City was suspected, strongly. The first bit of fishy business was Etihad Airways sponsorship deal. By a magnitude out of then prevailing market. That was a big story and it stunk. What did the Premier League do about it? Nothing that I am aware of. "Hey ADUG, everything on the up-and-up there? Very well, keep calm and carry on."
In the humble opinion of this retired Colonies' criminal lawyer, that shit still stinks. Over here, I am confident in the Mother Country also, you don't have the right to be arrested. Sounds silly but sometimes unclever defense attorneys make the argument that if the gendarme had just timely arrested their client for the first murder he committed, well then he wouldn't have committed the eight others!
Not a perfect analogy but the fatality in the defense is the same. You don't get to commit murder or violate any law or rule until you get caught and then only for the first one! No. When the authorities have the evidence they will pop you on the first one and if and when they get the evidence on the others they will pop your ass agayne.
Statute of limitations? You know what that is, right? If not, look it up, my back hurts. Yeah, City have a S-o-L argument, essentially you do have the right to be arrested timely, not for murder, but for a third degree felony in Florida it's five years. That is Soriano's reference to the 2020 CAS case. That was UEFA. CAS is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. CAS ruled that Citywere not guilty of remote offenses because of their version of the S-o-L. City will appeal this, I don't know the first body they appeal to, but eventually yes, it will make its way to CAS. It strikes me as a different case. UEFA is a pan-European competition; the English Premier League is like in England. Different admission criteria, different rules.
Double jeopardy? No.
Had enough? Me too. Here is Soriano:
"I want to share some information related to the ongoing disciplinary process between Manchester City and the Premier League. A document has been made public with an opinion of the Premier League commission that is negative to our interests. I want to explain exactly what this is, the next steps and how we are going to continue to defend the club, and finally be vindicated in this process.
"This has gone for so long that it is important to remind ourselves that the whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation - that the owners' personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.
"Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows that it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate that the money did not come from the owner. Every other false charge that has been thrown at us - and aggressively marketed and promoted - comes from the simple, central, and completely false accusation.
"Surprisingly for us, and for our lawyers, after nearly two years the Premier League Commission has introduced an opinion that supports the Premier League's conspiracy theory. To do so, the opinion had to ignore the extensive evidence provided by the club in order to reach a conclusion that is clearly wrong.
"Our lawyers will now file an appeal that sets out the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact and it is unsafe. Remember we have been here before. In 2020 we were also wrongly ruled against for many of the same issues. We appealed to an independent body in CAS and we won.
"We will now be relentless in our work. We will focus on the independent appeal process and also all other legal avenues available to us in order to win the case, and we will take all necessary action to protect the club and seek compensation from any party that tries to damage it now, and in the future.
"I know this can be a bit of a distraction but please remain focused on our business and take care of our extended City family as we always do. Please follow the normal protocols in referring to fan, partner and media enquiries. Very soon we will look back at this and recognise it is another time in our history when we dealt with adversity and overcame it together."
