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Apology to Kia Joorabchian - We say our sorry regarding "Laundry FC" article

Our article in the October 2007 issue title “Laundry Football Club” reported that Kia Joorabchian had been involved in laundering money through the Brazilian club Corinthians. We acknowledge that the article was misleading and contained some wrong information that we wish to clarify.

From information we have received since publication of the Article we believe that Mr. Joorabchian is a businessman of good repute and standing both within Brazil and internationally.

In constrast to the report in our Article when Mr Joorabchian took Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevex to London it was with the full understanding and consent of Corinthians and it should also he noted that both players are now playing at top European clubs.

Futher, any suggestion in the Article that Mr Joorabchian was responsible for the fine received by West Ham United as a result of charges brought by the English Football Association is entirely misleading and untrue. The charges were the result of West Ham United’s failure to file documents that they, and not Mr Joorabchian, were obliged to file under the football Association Rules and it should be noted that West Ham United pleaded guilty to the charges and accepted full responsibility for breaching the FA Rules.

Finally, the implication that the English Football Association would not comment because Mr Joorabchian is being investigated is entirely unfounded and resulted from a misunderstanding on our part. We can confirm that to the best of our knowledge Mr Joorabchian was not being investigated by the English Football Associantion or the Premier League either at the tume of the Article in October 2007 or at any time before after that date.

We acknowledge that our article has, as a result of some the information we published, misled the reader. It was never our intention to suggest that the allegations against Corinthians and others referred to Mr Joorabchian personally or that he had in any way acted improperly. We wish to unreservedly apologise to Mr Joorabchian for the errors and misrepresentations contained in the Article and for any impression the Article may have wrongly given to our readers.