Manchester City’s Emirati chair was granted diplomatic immunity six years ago in a move that could complicate any legal action resulting from findings that the Premier League club artificially inflated its finances by more than £900mn.
Khaldoon al-Mubarak, a senior Abu Dhabi official who has chaired City since 2008, was placed on the UK’s official list of approved diplomats in 2020. This automatically confers immunity from any criminal investigation and in most cases shields the person from civil proceedings on UK soil.
City strongly denies the charges made against it and will appeal against the decision. The findings, if upheld, could open the door to further legal proceedings, which has been a source of concern for City, according to two people familiar with the situation. This could include civil action from other Premier League clubs that believe they have lost out on the pitch as a result of City’s actions. There is also the potential for criminal investigations by the Serious Fraud Office, the police or other agencies, according to lawyers not involved in the case.
There is no suggestion of personal wrongdoing by Mubarak, who is one of the United Arab Emirates’ president’s most trusted advisers and is also the chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund, Mubadala. One senior UK government figure t old the Financial Times it would be “very odd” if somebody in Mubarak’s position did not have diplomatic status, given that he has chaired Abu Dhabi’s Executive Affairs Authority, the equivalent of the UK’s Cabinet Office, since 2006.
Mubarak’s diplomatic immunity could complicate follow-up legal action against the club, according to lawyers, as it largely protects an individual from being sued or charged in a criminal probe in the country where he or she is an emissary. If the SFO were to pursue a criminal case, it would be required to do so under fraud laws that applied at the time of the alleged wrongdoing and that require prosecutors to prove the “directing mind” of the corporate entity was complicit.
Nick Vamos, former head of extradition at the Crown Prosecution Service, told the FT that as well as having full protection from criminal prosecution, Mubarak “would also have immunity from civil actions relating to his ‘official functions’.” He added that “there could be some debate about whether the activities in question were part of those functions or purely private matters”
Individuals on the diplomatic list are largely immune from civil litigation. In a key test case in the English courts in 2016, the former prime minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, known as HBJ, successfully argued in a separate case that he could not be sued in England because of his diplomatic immunity.
Independent legal experts said that criminal proceedings against City were possible where the Premier League has found failings related to financial dealings. Tom Forster KC, a financial crime barrister, told the Pink 'Un that “if there is evidence of systemic false accounting and other Companies Act offences then there is a significant risk that both the corporate vehicle and individuals may face a criminal investigation and prosecution”. P
Publicly available lists show Mubarak appearing as an official of the UAE’s embassy in London in 2022. However, UK officials told the FT that the UAE had notified the government of Mubarak’s diplomatic status in 2020.
The commission’s findings threaten to strain relations between the UK and the UAE. In 2021, the two countries launched a sovereign investment partnership, with Mubadala the lead investor. The agreement has since generated £30bn in investment commitments from the UAE into Britain, overseen by Mubarak.
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