Redknapp charged with tax evasion

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was charged alongside his former chairman Thursday with offenses involving illegal tax avoidance while at Premier League club Portsmouth.

The British government's Crown Prosecution Service said that Redknapp had been charged with two counts of "cheating the public revenue." The CPS charged former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric with the same offenses on Tuesday.

The CPS alleges that Mandaric paid $295,000 into a Monaco bank account belonging to Redknapp to avoid paying tax and national insurance.

Redknapp's lawyer did not immediately return calls for comment but Redknapp, who left Pompey for Tottenham in October 2008, said last month that the decision to take action against him was "farcical."

Tottenham has already said it does not affect his employment with the club since it is a private, non-football matter which predated his arrival at the club.

Mandaric too contends that the payment was a personal arrangement and not made in an attempt to contravene tax and insurance law.

"I have done nothing wrong and independent tax experts have already confirmed that, in their opinion, there is no tax liability," Mandaric said in a statement released by his lawyer. "I am innocent of this allegation."

Tottenham was last in the Premier League with two points from eight games when Redknapp arrived to take over from the fired Juande Ramos.

He immediately guided the club to its first win of the season and eventually took it to eighth in the standings and a second straight appearance in the League Cup final.

Neither Redknapp nor Mandaric are still connected with Portsmouth, which is deep in financial trouble and has missed wage payments to players three times this season.

Mandaric left Portsmouth in 2006. He took over Leicester, which is in the second-tier League Championship, the following year.

The pair will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Feb. 11. The charges follow an investigation by customs officials and City of London police into player transfers at Portsmouth.