wasn't sure where to post this:
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2010/04/09/labour-mp-demands-truth-about-toxic-liverpool-fc-loan-92534-26206401/A LABOUR MP last night demanded to know if the crippling debt saddled on Liverpool FC by its American owners was now seen as “toxic” – and being underwritten by the taxpayer.
The huge £237m debt is owed to goverment-owned RBS but ministers are refusing to confirm claims that Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s loans has been included in the asset protection scheme (APS).
Jim Cousins, a Labour backbencher, described the government’s claim that disclosure would be unlawful as nonsense – insisting details had been revealed in relation to other loans.
And he said the body set up to administer the APS should – if the loan was insured and it judged taxpayer funds to be at risk – demand new owners be installed at Liverpool.
Taking up concerns of Liverpool FC fans, Mr Cousins, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: “Ministers must come clean on whether this loan to Liverpool Football Club has been protected by the taxpayer.
“If it has, then the asset protection agency has a duty to ensure the taxpayer gets its money back – which means deciding whether it has been put at risk by bad management.”
Mr Cousins urged Anfield supporters – many of whom had urged him to find out the truth – to keep campaigning for the lid to be lifted on the controversial loan.
The row opens up a new front in the campaign by a group of Labour MPs, led by Walton’s Peter Kilfoyle, to use the part-nationalisation of RBS to put pressure on Hicks and Gillett.
The government – which took a 60% stake in the busted bank in October 2008 – was urged to pull the plug on the two Americans, forcing the pair to sell the club they took over in February 2007.
Last year, the Treasury announced it would insure £585bn of “toxic assets” for RBS and HBOS, a second bailed-out bank. By underwriting the loans, it hoped to kick-start lending to businesses, which dried up after the financial crisis.
Hicks and Gillett have until July 24 to repay the remaining £237m borrowed from RBS and American investment bank Wachovia, which they have leveraged against the club's assets.
Despite pledges to the contrary, the owners set a total of £350m worth of debt against the Anfield club which was only £44m in the red when David Moores sold out.
Mr Cousins, the Newcastle Central MP, tabled a parliamentary question after his select committee was contacted by many Liverpool fans eager to know if the loan was considered “toxic”.
In reply, treasury minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry said: “This information is received via the Financial Services Authority and relates to the business affairs of individual customers and counterparties.
“Disclosure of such information is restricted by domestic and European law and there are no provisions which would permit disclosure in this case.”
But Mr Cousins said some details of loans insured under the APS had been released – but using such opaque language it was difficult to identify exactly who the borrower was.
Various supporters’ groups have tried to put pressure on the RBS to call in the Hicks and Gillett loan to force the Americans out of the club. But each deadline so far has been met by the Americans refinancing what is owed.
