#INSERT type:image caption:The Spanish court's sanction to Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano raised doubts over whether he now meets the Premier League's 'fit and proper' test. END#
Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has been sanctioned by a Spanish court for his role in the 2012 collapse of airline Spanair, leading to concerns over whether he now meets the "fit and proper persons" test that all Premier League directors are supposed to pass.
Soriano was one of 11 former Spanair board members also fined a total of 10.8 million euros by a Barcelona commercial court on Thursday.
The Catalan, who became chairman of the airline after previously being a vice president at Barcelona, and his fellow accused have denied doing anything wrong as they tried to save the company before it eventually went out of business in January 2012. These attempts included trying to put together a potential deal with Qatar Airways, which the judge has now ruled took place after the airline had already become legally bankrupt.
A Manchester City spokeswoman told Bloomberg that the club knew of the issue when Soriano was hired in August 2012 but would make no further comment on an ongoing legal matter.
"Manchester City FC were entirely aware of the situation," the City statement said. "Any further comment would be inappropriate given the proceedings remain ongoing."