Mike Ashley calls Goals Soccer Centres’ move to call in SFO ‘too little, too late’
Mike Ashley today blasted a reported move by embattled Goals Soccer Centres to enlist the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate suspected fraud.
The Sports Direct owner called the alleged action “far too little, too late”.
Read more: Goals Soccer Centres calls in fraud watchdog
The billionaire added that it “is a deliberate case of closing the stable door well after the horse has bolted”.
Ashley, whose company had gone close to a 5p-per-share takeover offer for Goals after the five-a-side operator put itself up for sale over summer, has accused the firm of failing to engage with its offer.
Goals has passed a dossier of evidence to authorities over the last 10 days, Sky News reported yesterday.
It follows seven months after Goals Soccer Centres suspended its shares after discovering a multi-million-pound black hole in its accounts.
The five-a-side pitch operator was forced to delist from the Aim market last month, saying it could not quantify “with any certainty” the impact of what it called a “misdeclaration of VAT”.
Goals initially put the figure at £12m but last month it warned that the number could be “materially higher”.
The SFO and Goals both declined to comment yesterday. The former’s involvement comes after reports that the Financial Conduct Authority is also investigating the company.
Goals has previously confirmed it is conducting an internal probe into the actions of former CEO Keith Rogers and its old finance chief Bill Gow.
Read more: Sports Direct says ‘skulduggery’ wiped out Goals shareholders
Ashley criticised Goals Soccer Centres after it delisted at the end of September, accusing it of “skulduggery” and urging a full investigation into the fraud allegations. The billionaire is an 18 per cent shareholder in Goals.
Goals, which operates 45 venues in the UK and employs more than 700 people, had called Sports Direct’s acquisition bid “highly caveated”.
Main image credit: Getty