Representatives of the Italian businessman attempting to take over Leeds are insisting his two previous convictions should be regarded as 'spent' by the Football League.
League chiefs are considering the bid by Massimo Cellino, the owner of Cagliari in Italy's Serie A, to take over Leeds and whether he passes the owners' and directors' test.
Cellino received a suspended sentence in 2001 for false accounting. His representatives say a 1996 fine for fraud was overturned on appeal.
In Britain, both convictions would be regarded as 'spent' under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, meaning that there is no obligation to disclose them, and that the offences should no longer be held against the person in any way.
It is understood that Cellino's lawyers have presented a case to the Football League arguing that he cannot be barred from owning Leeds due to the past offences.
Nor can the fact he could face a trial after being arrested in Italy last year as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds be held against him. Under current League rules, people are regarded as innocent until proven otherwise.
The Football League's owners' and directors' test states a disqualifying condition is "having an unspent conviction (or where the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 does not apply for any reason, having a conviction within the period that would have rendered that conviction unspent had the provisions of that Act applied) for" offences including dishonesty, corruption and perverting the course of justice.
The test does not have any conditions dealing with a person under investigation for an alleged offence.
Leeds' owners Gulf Finance House Capital are now understood to be poised to open talks with another consortium after initially having agreed a deal to sell 75 per cent of the club's shares to Cellino's company, Eleonora Sport Ltd, on Friday.
But after Cellino's failed attempt to sack manager Brian McDermott later the same day, it emerged his legal representatives had been escorted from club premises on Monday.
McDermott, who stayed away from Leeds' 5-1 derby win against Huddersfield at the weekend as the club's latest takeover saga plunged into farce, reported for duties as normal on Monday morning after GFH Capital confirmed the 52-year-old had not been sacked.
He was unable to end continued speculation who will take control of the Sky Bet Championship club at a press conference, but it is now understood Sport Capital, whose takeover deal collapsed last Thursday, have joined forces with another British consortium, Together Leeds.
GFH Capital agreed a similar deal with Yorkshire-based consortium Sport Capital in November, but after a two-month exclusivity period that deal collapsed last Thursday.
Together Leeds, which includes former Manchester United director Mike Farnan and former Hull chairman Adam Pearson, who left his position as commercial director at Elland Road in 2001, had been hoping to enter into talks with GFH Capital.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article