Let me explain why I believe the Commission made the finding that Mansour was not aware of the “Disguised Funding Scheme”.
The arbitrators must start from a strong presumption that an innocent explanation is inherently more likely to be correct than one that involves dishonesty, fraud or deception.
And as such, there is a burden of proof that must be met by the claimant for the arbitrators to decide that, on the balance of probabilities, an explanation involving dishonesty, fraud or deception is more likely.
For Mansour, the innocent explanation aligned with the other findings is that he knew money was leaving his account but he was not aware that is was being used for a Disguised Funding Scheme. For example, he may not have been aware of the particulars of PSR and may have simply thought it was just being used as equity as it had been in years prior.
And because there was no direct evidence to demonstrate his awareness (per the Decision) the Commission has decided that the burden of proof to determine otherwise has not been met.
Trying to structure an appeal around this seems beyond daft because (1) it appears wholly consistent with any scenario as described and (2) with any reversal it’s far more likely that the outcome would be to implicate Mansour rather than exonerate the Club.
🔺REVEALED: Manchester City will claim sponsorship cash was paid by government — not owners
Club’s appeal also expected to challenge use of word ‘sham’ by independent commission and sheer amount of time it took them to deliver guilty verdict
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