Gilbo

**EXCLUSIVE** Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met a senior UK government minister to discuss the UAE’s investments in Britain just days before the club’s guilty verdicts were announced. Al Mubarak asked to meet Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on 14 September in his capacity as CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, sources tell Bloomberg. The pair held a private meeting in Downing Street on that date, the people said. Al Mubarak talked about current and future UAE investment in Britain, they said. The conversation covered the full range of the relationship including defence, security, intelligence and trade, they said. Eleven days later, on 25 September, the Athletic reported Man City had been found guilty of breaking Premier League rules. On 29 September, the Premier League confirmed Manchester City had been found guilty of artificially boosting its balance sheet by more than £900 million. The fact of the meeting so close to the verdict will raise further questions about the UK government’s handling of the case. Andy Burnham has faced criticism, including from his own ministers and officials, after he publicly suggested Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified from running the club because of the investment they bring to Britain. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Emirati officials have warned the UK government that the severity of the ruling could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…