Ex-Portsmouth owner jailed for buying club with stolen funds

Al Fahim was sentenced to five years in a United Arab Emirates prison after being found guilty of forgery, using forged documents and aiding and abetting. The former Pompey owner had financed the deal by stealing up to £5million from his wife.

According to prosecutors, Al Fahim's wife had discovered the money was missing after failing to receive returns from a high interest rate account that she had opened in 2009.

After contacting the bank's accounts manager, and being met with several excuses and obstacles, she went to the authorities. The bank manager was also sentenced to five years after being convicted of theft, forgery of official documents and use of forged official documents.

In an interview with 'BBC Radio Solent' in 2009, Al Fahim had said: ''To be realistic we need a new ground and we want to strengthen the squad and the academy. Hopefully we can have a new stadium in place by 2015 or 2016. We would like to be a top-eight club by that time.''

Following the departure of Al Fahim, Portsmouth took a significant economic tumble. Four years later, the club had gone into administration twice, been relegated three times and had seen seven different owners.