In response to rumours currently circulating over the identity of the mystery backer, QPR 1st has asked QPR Chief Executive David Davies to confirm or dispel that it is Michael Hunt, former Managing Director of Nissan UK, who via the Panamanian-registered company ABC Corporation last year loaned Queens Park Rangers the £10m that took the club out of administration.
According to a poster on the Rivals website, Hunt served four years in prison in the 1990s for his part in Britain’s biggest ever tax fraud. He was found guilty of fraudulently evading £200m in tax and forgery of documents. Hunt, along with his partner Octav Botnar, evaded tax by setting up sham companies and so-called charitable trusts overseas, notably in Panama. The posting claims that Hunt is an associate of administrator Ray Hocking and owns a portfolio of property, including the East Sussex National Golf Club, which has as one of its directors Philip Englefield.
The former solicitor, struck off for misappropriating client funds, was briefly on the QPR Board last year.
David Davies’ official reply was as follows: “Being bound by a confidentiality agreement in respect of the loan, I am unable to make any comment over the rumours.”