Cardiff City are pursuing a High Court claim for almost £10million in damages against Malky Mackay, Iain Moody and three of the most powerful agents in the game.

The Welsh club have launched a claim of dishonest conspiracy with regard to two transfers against Mackay, their former director of football Moody and agents David Manasseh, Rob Segal and John Inglis.

The move comes with Mackay expected to be unveiled as the Scottish Football Association’s technical director on Thursday.

Cardiff are pursuing a claim of £10m in damages against Malky Mackay and four other people

The Welsh club have launched a claim of 'dishonest conspiracy' regarding two transfers

Iain Moody (middle) has been named alongside former Cardiff manager Mackay in the claim

Cardiff are due in the High Court on Thursday in a bid to have the case heard in the public arena after lawyers representing the agents pushed for a behind-closed-doors FA tribunal which would avoid public scrutiny.

The situation highlights one of the most contentious issues in the English game, whereby agents and other members of the football community can use private arbitration for disputes without incurring any public reputational damage. This newspaper knows of at least one top agent whose clients are unaware he was forced to pay significant damages to another player.

Mackay, Moody and the agents involved in this case have consistently denied any wrongdoing since Sportsmail revealed Cardiff were investigating eight transfers from 2013, when Mackay was their manager and Moody was in charge of player recruitment. The investigation, which has so far cost Cardiff owner Vincent Tan more than £1m and has been led by a team of lawyers from Mishcon De Reya for almost three years, is ongoing but Thursday's hearing will focus on Steven Caulker’s £8.5m transfer from Tottenham to Cardiff in July 2013 and Peter Odemwingie’s £2.5m move from West Brom to the Welsh club two months later.

In the Odemwingie deal, Segal was the player’s agent with Manasseh on official documents as the club’s agent, with a fee of almost £300,000 due to Manasseh, who is perhaps most famous for negotiating Gareth Bale’s record-breaking £85m transfer to Real Madrid.

Moody, Mackay and the agents involved in this case have consistently denied any wrongdoing

The nearly three-year long investigation has cost Cardiff owner Vincent Tan more than £1m

The hearing is focused on Steven Caulker and Peter Odemwingie's transfers in summer 2013

But Cardiff claim they are unable to find any evidence of Manasseh’s involvement in the deal, other than the fact he appeared on the AG1 Agent Declaration form submitted by Segal. The club’s concern was heightened by the fact Manasseh was in Spain overseeing Bale’s move to Real Madrid on the day the Odemwingie transfer was completed.

Manasseh, who declined to comment on Wednesday night, was named as the player’s agent in the Caulker deal, and was also named in documents with Inglis as the club’s agents.

Inglis, a Scottish former footballer now operating as an agent in Bulgaria, was to receive more than £700,000 for his involvement but, again, the club can find no evidence of him working on the deal.

Cardiff claim all five men conspired together to defraud the club in both transfers

Defender Caulker joined the Welsh club from Tottenham Hotspur in July 2013 for £8.5m

Cardiff claim all five men conspired together to defraud the club in both transfers, and hold Mackay and Moody responsible as two principal officers of the club overseeing transfer business.

After leaving Cardiff, Mackay and Moody almost rejoined forces at Crystal Palace in 2014, but Sportsmail revealed an exchange of racist, sexist and homophobic messages that forced Moody to resign and persuaded Palace not to appoint Mackay.