Man City refused to respond to UEFA investigators over allegations that it "misled financial regulators over the club’s income," on the grounds that the accusations are based on hacked emails, according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. UEFA’s independent Club Financial Control Body is investigating leaked emails which appear to show £59.5M of sponsorship money that was supposed to come from Etihad Airline in '15 was paid instead by Man City owner Abu Dhabi United Group. The CFCB approached Man City for its response to the allegations and emails published by Der Spiegel, the German magazine, from the Football Leaks cache of documents. The club, however, is understood to have "declined to provide any explanation," and instead pointed out the claims arose from internal emails which it says were "hacked or stolen." Man City did not challenge the authenticity of the emails but has "previously stated they were taken out of context" (LONDON TIMES, 1/16). In London, David Conn reported as Man City refused to comment but "did not deny that the emails quoted were genuine," the CFCB and UEFA officials are now understood to be discussing internally how to proceed. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and CFCB Chair Yves Leterme have spoken publicly in general terms that the "strongest sanction for a club found to be seriously in breach of the rules is expulsion from the Champions League." A UEFA spokesperson said that there was no further update on Ceferin's brief comment on the Man City issues last month, when he said, "We are assessing the situation. We have an independent body [the CFCB] working on it. Very soon you will have an answer on what will happen in this concrete case." The club's hierarchy, including Chair Khaldoon al-Mubarak, are senior political figures in Abu Dhabi, which has been subject to previous hacking or email leaks. The response in those cases has also been not to comment on the substance of what was published (GUARDIAN, 1/15).
