 Giovanni di Stefano insists he will not be driven out of Dens Park |
Dundee have been told by the Inland Revenue that an outstanding bill of �62,000 must be paid by Friday or they face being wound up. The case against the club was taken to the Court of Session in Edinburgh last Thursday, where an application to place the club into liquidation was submitted.
However, prospective Dundee director Giovanni Di Stefano is angry that the action was brought in the first place, although he says the bill will be paid in full.
The club were in a technical dispute with the Inland Revenue over the amount due and the period of notice that the club was given to pay the outstanding sum.
Dundee thought they were entitled to 21 days, the authorities insist it is seven.
But Di Stefano maintains the delay came about as the club challenged the original figure set.
"This relates to business before I arrived at the club, but since August we have paid PAYE contributions of �170,000, so it was not a case of us paying nothing," Di Stefano told the Evening Telegraph.
"What was in dispute was an outstanding sum.
"The Inland Revenue said it was �78,000, but we disagreed and invited them to do an audit, which they did and came up with a new figure of �62,000.
"We were quite right, therefore, to challenge them, but the figure reached now is clearly due and it will be paid."
BBC Scotland understands that the club's financial future is entirely dependent on Di Stefano.
 |  By law, you have 21 days to complete this kind of transaction and that's what I was fighting for. |
If the controversial lawyer pulls out, then the club could fold.
The Dens Park club are already furious after the Scottish Football Association told the media it had asked the club to respond to reports regarding Di Stefano, before actually contacting Dundee.
The SFA's general purposes committee reviewed press articles regarding Di Stefano's past at a meeting on Monday.
A statement released to the media stated that once they had received Dundee's response to the reports, they would consider the club's application to appoint Di Stefano as a director.
But Dundee had not yet been notified by the SFA and were angered by what they termed "trial by media".
"What is unforgivable is that in a cowardly fashion rather than ask the club or myself first and foremost specific questions, the SFA issued a press statement first," Di Stefano told the club's website.
The SFA say that Dundee were notified of the General Purposes Committee decision at 1545 GMT on Monday and that the press release was issued 40 minutes later.
Di Stefano, in the wake of a report in the Scotland on Sunday, insisted last month that he would not be forced out of Dundee.
MMIX
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