A reason has been revealed as to why the government are refusing to release documents linked to the potential takeover of Newcastle United.
As per The Chronicle, the Department for International Trade (DIT) is refusing to release the documents for the fear that it would be sued for a breach of confidence.
[freshpress-poll id=”312122″]
Back in November, the DIT acknowledged that it had correspondence on the takeover talks between the department and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) government but withheld it under several different exemptions.
The reason that they had given at the time for not releasing the documents was that they contained personal information, the information was provided in confidence and the commercial interests involved.
[freshpress-quiz id=”336603″]
Nonetheless, it seems as if the documents will still not be provided publicly for now.
What next for the potential Newcastle takeover?
The KSA’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) need to come back onto the table for the prospective £300m deal between Mike Ashley and the KSA consortium to move forward.
There may also be one eye on the developments in the Middle East with regards to the possible unbanning of beIN from the Saudis, which would surely ease the tensions between the Gulf country, Qatar and the Premier League after the Kingdom were found to have been streaming games from the top flight illegally as per the findings from the World Trade Organization (WTO) report.
Nonetheless, whatever information is being held in those government documents will not be released to the public over fears that the DIT would get sued.
