Leggat - LLOYDS ACCUSED AGAIN

[ian1964 10,720]

LLOYDS BANK did play a key role in the sell out of Rangers by David Murray to conman Craig Whyte.

 

I can now reveal that is the case, despite persistent denials from Lloyds chiefs.

 

In fact, as recently as earlier this month, Lloyds Banking Group chairman, Sir Winfried Bischoff told Lloyds shareholders at the Annual General meeting in Edinburgh that the bank had no influence whatsoever in the deal.

 

If facts emerge to the contrary, that statement by Sir Winfried Bischoff could have extremely serious repercussions for the Lloyds Banking Group chairman.

 

For it is a criminal offence for a company chairman to mislead shareholders at an Annual General Meeting.

 

Any part played by Lloyds in the handover of his 85.3per cent shareholding in Rangers by David Murray to conman Craig Whyte for a quid, relates to a type of security held by the bank which is called a Negative Pledge.

 

There are three documents involved, a Directorsâ?? Guarantee, which is self explanatory and a Fixed and Floating Charge, which relates, in part, to fixed assets such as Ibrox, the Albion car park and the Milngavie training ground.

 

But it is the third, The Negative Pledge, which is the important one in the case of the sell out of Rangers by David Murray to Craig Whyte and the dodgy deal Whyte set up top get a £24M loan from Ticketus by mortgaging season tickets before he owned Rangers.

 

That was, in fact, the money which funded the £18M pay off to Lloyds Bank.

 

And handing over that £18M to Lloyds in a lump sum was a condition of Craig Whyte being allowed to buy Rangers for a quid.

 

For Craig Whyte could NOT have gone ahead and bought Rangers WITHOUT the say so of Lloyds.

 

Because of the Negative Pledge, Whyte and David Murray would have had to inform Lloyds Bank of the deal with Ticketus and get their permission for the Whyte-Ticketus deal to go ahead.

 

And without the £24M Ticketus handed Whyte, the trickster would not have been able to hand over £18M to Lloyds before the ink was dry on the contract which gave him ownership of Rangers.

 

Which hardly sits well with what Lloyds Banking Group chairman, Sir Winfried Bischoff told the bankâ??s shareholders at that stormy AGM in Edinburgh when he was under pressure to answer a number of questions about the way the sale of Rangers to Craig Whyte, a man with a dubious past and no visible means of support, was handled by Lloyds.

 

Now, nearly two weeks after that AGM, Sir Winfried Bischoff has still to honour a pledge he made at the meeting in response to a question about the role the controversial Donald Muir played in the dodgy deal.

 

Muir, you will recall, was a Rangers director, put there by Lloyds and was the Lloyds man on the Ibrox board.

 

Yet amazingly, Sir Winfried Bischoff asked the AGM to believe that he had no idea what â?? if any, he said â?? Donald Muir played in the dodgy deal which delivered Rangers to conman Whyte and which led directly to the Ibrox clubâ??s current crisis.

 

But Sir Winfried Bischoff did publicly pledge that he would find out and get the answer to the shareholder who quizzed him.

 

I spoke to that shareholder last night and now, almost a fortnight after Sir Winfried Bischoff made his public promise, no answer has been forthcoming.

 

Amazingly, despite their controversial and as yet not full explained role in delivering the deal which sent Rangers hurtling into administration, Lloyds remain Rangers bankers.

 

Perhaps now, a year on from the start of the WHYTE SCANDAL, something which Lloyds sparked and which they remain at the heart of, Lloyds Banking Group â?? 43per cent owned by the British taxpayer â?? may be prevailed upon to do some proper due diligence on Charles Green, before Rangers are sold out again.

 

And not just on Charles Green, but also on the Green Gang and the MEN of MYSTERY who are closing in on winning their sleekit fight to snare Rangers without ever revealing the names of the men with the money and what their visible means of support may be.

 

But given Sir Winfried Bischoffâ??s bungling performance at the Lloyds Banking Groupâ??s Annual General Meeting and his lack of knowledge as to what role the Lloyds' man on the Rangers board, Donald Muir, played in the sell out, plus his apparent denial of the Negative Ple-dge Lloyds held over Rangers, which meant the bank had to sanction to Tickets-Whyte £24M deal, I am not hopeful.

 

Lloyds Bank, having got their mitts on the £18M, funded entirely by the dodgy deal between conman Whyte and Ticketus, donâ??t seem to care what happens now.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

some of that doesn't look quite right but I think its clear some sort of investigation into the whole affair is needed.

 

muirs role is one that needs outing.

 

yesterday grier claimed he read in the paper about whyte buying rangers and phoned him but grier and Muir are pals. I believe Muir brought in grier.

[Calgacus 8]

the negative pledge wouldn't apply because Lloyds were getting their lending repaid. Negative Pledges are designed to stop borrowers obtaining further loans from other lenders to the detriment of the first lender.