BBC broadcaster shares major update on legal proceedings launched v West Brom owner Lai
A significant Chinese shareholder had started legal proceedings against West Brom chairman Guochuan Lai before suddenly dropping them, according to Adrian Goldberg.
The BBC broadcaster has claimed that Yasha Ge spearheaded the case forward, meaning that two companies that both hold shares in the club were taking legal action between each other last year.
Goldberg asked for comments from the club, but unsurprisingly received no response from either Lai or the Baggies.
Speaking on the Liquidator podcast, Goldberg and Lepkowski shared the huge update on the Baggies owner.
“I was contacted by somebody who doesn’t want to be named, someone who has considerable international business experience – this person is also a West Brom fan.
“They pointed me to a lawsuit that was filed in the civil court in Shanghai last year, so there’s no evidence of anything criminal going on.
“One of West Brom’s key shareholders brought a case and it was about contract validity. This company has a small shareholding in West Brom and the chairman of that company is Yasha Ge.
“Yasha Ge doesn’t appear to be the owner of West Brom but does have an involvement with this company that brought the case. So, you’ve got this one company, a small shareholder in West Brom, bringing legal action against other shareholders in West Brom.
“The case was brought on the 15th of June. On the 25th of August, the people bringing the claim then asked to withdraw it and it was finally struck out on September the 4th.”
What is going on?
This is a complete mess, and this update probably only makes it even more confusing.
Financial data gathering company, Orbis, incorrectly reported in recent months that Ge was in fact in charge at The Hawthorns, with the Premier League failing to clear up who is actually in charge of the Baggies.
Joseph Masi then managed to get hold of documents that definitely confirmed that it was, in fact, Lai who is still the owner of West Brom – not exactly easy to follow.
So, why were Ye and Lai set to meet in civil court?
Is this to do with West Brom? Or is this just a butt of heads between their two companies? Either way, the quicker that both are out of this club, the better.
Other clubs such as Leeds have shown what having see-through ownership can do, as they secure big financial agreements with outside franchises such as the San Francisco 49ers.
Change is needed, and it starts right at the top.
In other West Brom news, Baggies fans react to the debut of Ainsley Maitland-Niles v Spurs