The Hindu1 hours ago·4 min read·medium

Manchester City whistleblower to lose witness protection days after club's guilty verdict

✦AI Summary

Football Leaks whistleblower Rui Pinto faces the loss of his witness protection status in Portugal shortly after Manchester City was found guilty of financial rule breaches. Pinto's legal team warns that his safety is at risk due to previous threats and the lack of alternative security arrangements.

Why it matters

The case highlights the precarious situation of whistleblowers in high-profile sports corruption investigations and the potential impact on future transparency.

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Football Leaks whistleblower Rui Pinto is set to lose his witness protection status in Portugal, his legal team said on Friday, days after an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of ‌serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules.

Pinto, whose disclosures helped trigger scrutiny of Manchester City's finances , entered ⁠Portugal's witness protection programme in 2020 after agreeing to cooperate with authorities and provide files obtained through the Football Leaks operation.

City were found guilty ‌of all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations over nine seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18, as ‌well as three of four charges concerning failures to cooperate ‌with ⁠the investigation.

The league said this week that City had ⁠used "sham" commercial contracts to inflate revenue and understate costs by more than 900 million pounds ($1.19 billion) over nearly a decade, resulting in inaccurate financial reporting and breaches of spending rules.

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