THE mystery surrounding Kia Joorabchian begins with his name and his birth date. Indeed, there are two Kias. Kia Joorabchian, who was born on July 14, 1971 and holds a British passport, and Kia Kavash, who was born on July 25, 1971 and is a Canadian citizen. These dates and facts come from company records in companies he controls or, at some point, controlled.

He was born in Iran but moved to Britain at a young age (6 or 10, depending who you believe). His father, Mohammed, owned a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Kent and, after earning a degree at the University of London, Kia went into business with him. At some point, he met Roy Azim, a businessman originally from Kyrgyzstan, who introduced him to a number of Russian contacts, including Boris Berezovsky, the oligarch.

In 1999, he made his first significant deal. The owner of Kommersant, Russia’s largest financial newspaper, was under pressure to sell because of mounting debts. He did not want to sell it to a Russian oligarch, so when a wealthy foreigner such as Joorabchian came knocking at his door, he quickly made the sale, believing that, with Kommersant in foreign hands, it would be free from political and business interference. Three months later, Joorabchian sold Kommersant to Berezovsky, amid speculation that Berezovsky had been behind him all along.

In November 2004, Joorabchian surfaced again, as the head of Media Sports Investments (MSI), a company seeking to invest in Corinthians, the Brazilian football club. Joorabchian later acknowledged that MSI was formed exclusively to do the Corinthians deal.

According to the terms of the agreement, MSI effectively leased Corinthians for a period of ten years, in exchange for wiping out the clubs debts of £11.5 million and investing a certain sum in the playing squad.

According to the agreement — which may be loosely replicated at West Ham United — significant decisions would be made by a four-man board made up of two representatives from the club and two named by MSI. In case of a deadlock at board level, the deciding vote would be cast by Joorabchian.

With MSI’s help, Corinthians went on a spending spree, buying the likes of Carlos Tévez, Javier Mascherano, Carlos Alberto, Hugo, Jo and a host of other players. This helped them win the Brazilian title in 2005, but by last summer, the club were in turmoil. Internally, there was constant conflict between the Corinthians and the MSI men. The club employed no fewer than seven different managers in 18 months. While Corinthians, in the form of Flavio Audato, the vice-president, and Alberto Dualib, the president, frequently challenged MSI’s decisions, they found themselves powerless since all but five of the playing squad were owned by MSI, not Corinthians, and it was MSI who paid their wages.

Whether a similar structure will emerge at West Ham remains to be seen. Certainly, it is difficult to see how Joorabchian could have amassed the necessary funds on his own to buy the club outright from Terence Brown and the Cearns family. Were he to buy the club, the fit and proper owner test would most likely reveal who his backers are. With MSI being investigated on money laundering charges in Brazil, football’s authorities would have to take a long, hard look at the situation.

An agreement similar to the Corinthians deal would seem more plausible, with Joorabchian pledging to invest a certain sum of money in the playing squad in exchange for a say in the running of the club for a certain number of years. Again, though, such a deal would be unprecedented in a big European league and would be subject to massive amounts of scrutiny, not least because the issue of corporate entities (such as MSI) owning players remains a grey area for Fifa.

THE MEN LINKED TO UPTON

Last summer, speaking to the Brazilian media, KIA JOORABCHIAN, who is attempting to buy West Ham United, offered the only clue thus far as to the identity of the men backing MSI: “We are backed by a diverse group of powerful men with interest in oil, the media and entertainment.” Beyond that, their identities – and those potentially backing a bid to buy West Ham – can only be guessed at

The name mentioned most often is Boris Berezovsky, a 60-year-old London-based businessman who was Russia’s first billionaire. BEREZOVSKY is facing charges of fraud and political corruption in Russia and was interrogated over possible money-laundering activities by Brazilian authorities last May. Berezovsky denies any involvement with MSI, but admits that Joorabchian offered him the opportunity to invest in the venture “on several occasions”

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH is often cited as another of Joorabchian’s mystery backers. The Chelsea owner and Berezovsky were business partners in the mid-1990s yet not a shred of evidence has ever been presented to show a link with Joorabchian. The possibility that Abramovich is involved seems far-fetched, particularly since his relationship with Berezovsky has soured over the past few years

A man also associated with Joorabchian is BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI, the Georgian billionaire. He has close links to Berezovsky and was present when MSI signed their original deal with Corinthians two years ago. He is head of the Georgian Olympic Committee and is reportedly bankrolling Tbilisi’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics

The other source of Joorabchian's cash could be an Iranian consortium or individuals. Whoever is behind the 35-year-old, the takeover bid is in motion