Manchester City whistleblower ready to help UK authorities in return for protection

Rui Pinto, whose leaks helped to trigger the Premier League’s investigation into Manchester City’s financial affairs, is prepared to help authorities in the UK with their legal case in exchange for protection from threats, the Guardian understands.

Despite the crowdfunding campaign launched on Friday to fund a new life after leaving the protection of the Portuguese police, the whistleblower’s priority remains to cooperate, provided adequate security arrangements are in place.

In addition to the sporting ramifications of the case being conducted against City by the Premier League, British authorities could also decide to extend the inquiry. That has already occurred in Portugal in relation to some of the documents disclosed by Pinto. City were found guilty of more than 100 charges by an independent commission that unearthed “sham” contracts to boost income artificially by £900m, an investigation that was prompted by Pinto’s leaks of thousands of private documents.

City confirmed on Friday the club will appeal against the tribunal’s verdict.

With detailed knowledge of the documents, individuals and companies involved in the case – as well as documents that may have been overlooked during the investigation – Rui Pinto is willing to continue as a protected witness in another country, it is understood.

Just days before his arrest in Budapest in January 2019, the 37-year-old Portuguese national was negotiating entry into a witness protection programme in France, an initiative that was halted by the Portuguese authorities.

If it is confirmed that Rui Pinto will no longer be a protected witness in Portugal, he will be free to cooperate with authorities in other countries from 10 October. He has cooperated sporadically with French, German and Belgian authorities. The UK could now be added to that list, should it wish to do so.

Pinto’s potential contribution in the UK could extend well beyond the City furore. The hundreds of millions of files he gathered as part of Football Leaks and Luanda Leaks are not solely in the possession of the Portuguese authorities.

Between his arrest in Hungary and his extradition to Portugal, French authorities travelled to the Hungarian capital and copied the contents of all the electronic devices in the whistleblower’s possession. Rui Pinto was later acquitted of 241 counts after a second trial in Portugal in April this year.

The documents can now be shared between countries as part of international cooperation between nations with bilateral ties, including the UK.

Rui Pinto is now waiting to find out what his future holds. His defence protested against the decision of ending the protection, accusing Portugal of “state terrorism”. The whistleblower’s lawyers said they had appealed against the decision and had sought to establish how the risk assessment had been carried out but had received no response.

The hacker says he wants to leave Portugal for a secret location. At the time of writing, more than €19,000 (£16,530) had already been raised by a crowdfunding campaign.