Details of the scandalous situation with Dovbik’s transfer to Girona
Advocate Evgeniy Kuzminwho is dealing with the recent transfer scandal Artem Dovbik V Gironatold what the essence of the matter is and what facts of the forward’s transfer to the Spanish club may be the subject of an investigation by UEFA Financial Fair Play.
— Evgeniy, what is the essence of the claims?
— As a lawyer, I notified both Alexey Lyundovsky himself and FC Girona about these facts by email. Everything is backed up with papers. I am confident that the competent UEFA football authorities, where I have prepared a claim, will look into these violations and make a fair, appropriate decision. I hope that the Ukrainian Football Association will pay attention to this matter.
Returning to your question, I note that, as with other transfers, FC Girona had to pay the amount due to SK Dnepr-1 and Lyundovsky himself for the transfer of Artem Dovbik. And so it happened.
In this case, taxation should occur exclusively according to Ukrainian legislation. This is natural when the seller is a Ukrainian club, Dovbik is a Ukrainian football player and Lyundovsky is a Ukrainian agent. All payments must go to the accounts of Ukrainian banks only. If we talk about sports law, the football player is registered as a client of Lyundovsky’s Ukrainian company. And only this organization has the right to accept any payments relating to Artem Dovbik.
In this case, it is not clear what documents were used to make payments for agency services to an Estonian company that was registered to a Ukrainian agent. This is already the subject of pre-trial investigation.
“But having a foreign company is not prohibited. In Ukraine, there are even tax rules for CFCs (controlled foreign companies).
— Lundovsky also established a personal residence in the Republic of Estonia, permanently (more than 183 days in each calendar year) living and having his main and only residence exclusively in Ukraine.
According to information from the Commercial Register of Estonia, his company did not make any other transactions other than agency payments for Dovbik. Although the payment should have been made in favor of the Ukrainian company to the accounts of Ukrainian banks, which did not happen, and most likely taxes in Ukraine were not paid. According to the most minimal estimates, Ukraine could lose a very decent amount of budget revenue from this transfer.
Artem Dovbik is not only a player of the Ukrainian national team, but also a citizen of Ukraine, therefore such actions of Alexey Lyundovsky may include signs of economic aggression against our state.
— What sanctions could UEFA impose on Girona and Alexey Lyundovsky in the event of an improper transfer of Artem Dovbik from Dnepr-1 to Girona?
— In this case, the Spanish club FC Girona, the Ukrainian SC Dnepr-1 and the agent Alexei Lyundovsky may be subject to sanctions by UEFA. For clubs, this means a large fine, deprivation of a license and exclusion from participation in the national championship and European club tournaments. The football agent himself faces deprivation of his license to act as an agent.
Source: Sportarena
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