West Brom shareholders sign non-disclosure agreements as Jeremy Peace loan investigated
West Brom are investigating the 2014 loan by Jeremy Peace that is yet to have been repaid by Guochuan Lai, according to The Express & Star.
The newspaper reported on 12 July that in May, CEO Ron Gourlay accepted a request by minority shareholders S4A to hold an investigation into the loan that Lai inherited from Peace.
It is understood that Peace borrowed £3.7million from the Baggies in 2014 but that was transferred to Lai in 2016 when he took control of the club with no repayment date being mentioned.
Due to interest, that loan is now worth said to be worth £5million.
The Express & Star claims that with an investigation now underway about the ‘Jeremy Peace loan’, “those involved have signed non-disclosure agreements that mean they cannot legally talk about the loan until the investigation has reached its conclusion”.
S4A reportedly hope that the investigation will lead to Lai repaying the loan to West Brom or that action will be taken against the directors who were involved in the loan in 2014.
More loans than the West Brom Building Society
Lai owes West Brom around £10million when this loan is factored in with the recent one that he took out of the club to help prop up one of his businesses during the pandemic.
The Chinese businessman has already missed one repayment date for the £4.95million he borrowed from West Brom, which has a fixed interest of £50,000.
Lai has said that loan should be repaid back to the Baggies by the end of the year and that the money will be used in the January transfer window.
But based on the fact that he’s yet to repay this loan that he inherited from Peace is bound to cause a lot of fans to be suspicious about it being repaid any time soon.
Lai’s ownership of West Bromwich Albion Football Club is turning into a total farce.
This year, he’s shifted the board around to make himself chairman and hire Gourlay as CEO with Xu ‘Ken’ Ke moving on from the club.
Gourlay needs to get answers from China as soon as possible because £10million for a so-called billionaire is pocket change to him but to a club in the Championship, it’s the sort of money that can help fund a promotion charge if it’s invested well.
In other West Brom news, a former Albion star is training at the club’s training ground as he looks to find a new club.
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