Whyte legal firm will fight Rangers negligence claim

[Guest superrcooper7]

THE legal firm that led Craig Whyte's takeover of Rangers has said it will "vigorously defend" a claim of professional negligence due to be raised by the club's administrators, Duff & Phelps.

 

The High Court in London will hear the allegations on April 16. It is understood the claims relate to the structure of the transaction that secured the club.

 

The hearing follows Duff & Phelps's successful bid to secure more than £3.6 million from Whyte's client account held at Coll- yer Bristow, which the administra- tors said was owed to Rangers.

 

All parties were due to return to court last Friday on this matter, but proceedings were suspended after Duff & Phelps announced it had "substantially wider claims" to bring against the London-based law firm.

 

Paul Newhall, a director at Coll- yer Bristow, confirmed a professional negligence claim was due to be brought against the firm. He said: "Any claims brought in relation to this transaction we will vigorously defend."

 

Mr Newhall could not confirm whether the allegations specifically related to Gary Withey, a former senior partner at the firm who left the company due to "personal and family reasons" at the height of the Ibrox crisis.

 

Mr Withey closely advised Mr Whyte on his purchase and was later named as company secretary at Ibrox. Mr Newhall said: "Gary led the takeover from our perspective, prior to leaving the company, and was the lead partner on the deal."

 

Mr Withey was later criticised for seemingly obstructing the administrator's access to Whyte's client account at Collyer Bristow, into which £24m was deposited after Whyte sold off future season ticket sales to raise money for the purchase in May last year.

 

Mr Newhall said Collyer Bristow had never laid claim to the money held in the client account, adding that full details of Duff & Phelps's latest allegation would not be available until April 16.

 

Meanwhile, Tory MSP Murdo Fraser has written to Duff & Phelps outlining the importance of not accepting any bid that involves liquidation of the club. Mr Fraser wrote: "I believe that it is essential any bidder considering liquidation is ruled out of the process. I say this for two reasons â?? firstly, liquidation would deprive HMRC of funds properly due to the taxpayer and, secondly, liquidation would jeopardise the future existence of an institution which means so much to so many people across the world.

 

"It is in the interests of HMRC that Rangers FC exit administration through a Company Voluntary Arrangement and therefore I believe only bids that offer this course of action should be taken forward by the administrators."

[Juancornetto 1]

If he vigorously defends himself against this action the way he vigorously defended himself from the BBC then Duff and Phelps have nothing to worry about. Shootie in.