The British Parliament was urged to throw out a Chelsea takeover bid from Stephen Pagliuca, who co-owns Serie A side Atalanta, for their ‘despicably corrupt business practice’ in South Africa.
Chelsea are up for sale after owner Roman Abramovich was hit by sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Among the favourites to purchase the Premier League club is a bid from Bain Capital and its co-chairman Stephen Pagliuca.
He is already heavily invested in sport, as co-owner of NBA side the Boston Celtics and only a few weeks ago became a co-owner of Serie A club Atalanta.
Stephen Pagliuca sees similarities between Boston Celtics and Atalanta
Considering that situation with La Dea, in theory Pagliuca would have to drastically reduce his stake in the club to avoid a conflict of interest if he were to also purchase Chelsea.
However, the 67-year-old’s bid at Stamford Bridge could be doomed to failure after Lord Peter Hain told the House of Lords not to allow Pagliuca victory.
“Will ministers bar the Pagliuca Consortium bid headed by the chair of Bain Capital, which remains highly entwined with Bain & Company, recently indicted by a South African Judicial Commission for acting ‘unlawfully’ and referred for prosecution?
“Bain cynically and ruthlessly disabled the country’s tax collecting agency by conspiring with the corrupt former president Zuma for an £8million fee.
“Chelsea and the Premier League must not be contaminated with such despicably corrupt business practice.”
Bain Capital’s spokesman told The Telegraph newspaper that the company had been independent of Bain & Company since 1984.