The chairman of the Independent Football Regulator in England stated that if Manchester City's owners are ultimately found to have mismanaged the club, the body would have "absolute power" to force a change of ownership.
An independent commission ruled that Manchester City circumvented Premier League rules by establishing "fictitious" commercial arrangements over nine seasons to inflate revenue or reduce costs by more than £900 million (US$1.2 billion).
The commission also found that Manchester City had "systematically" obstructed and impeded the Premier League's investigation into such arrangements.
David Kogan, chairman of the independent football regulator, said on "The Rest Is Football" podcast that it was too early to discuss any potential actions the body might take, as Manchester City has appealed the original commission's ruling.
However, he confirmed that the body has the power to force Sheikh Mansour to sell the club if deemed necessary.
Kogan said: "If we deem that an owner is not running their club in an appropriate, fair, or proper way, we have the power to tell them to leave the club."
When asked if an owner could refuse to sell, Kogan replied: "No, no, no. We have absolute power to do that."
Regarding whether the independent football regulator would investigate Manchester City, Kogan stated: "I won't be forced into making any judgments on this until we've seen all these issues resolved. Then we have to decide whether we want to conduct our own investigation and draw conclusions from that to decide what we want to do. It would be a huge mistake to jump to conclusions."
Kogan had previously pledged to resign if any future investigation into Manchester City by the independent football regulator faced political interference. There are concerns that this issue could escalate into a diplomatic matter between the UK and the UAE.
AF's PC site is now live! Browse full news, comments, match details and stats on your computer. Visit: www.allfootballapp.com