No action over D.Murray, M.Bain etc.

[SteveC 150]

FORMER Rangers owner Sir David Murray and other directors will face no further action over the liquidation of the club's operating company, it has emerged.

 

Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte is the the only former Ibrox executive to face legal moves to ban him as a director over the company's financial meltdown.

 

Mr Whyte was banned from being a company director for 15 years in September after a judge heard his conduct in dealing with Rangers was "shocking and reprehensible".

 

Whyte was previously banned from being a director for seven years.

 

A second ban was sought by UK Business Secretary Vince Cable after Rangers' liquidation in 2012 and the subsequent liquidation of Whyte's firm, Tixway.

 

The role played by all board directors of the club in the three years prior to the administration in of Rangers Football Club plc was looked at by the Insolvency Service's Investigations & Enforcement Directorate.

 

The conduct of Sir David Murray, Rangers legend John Greig, former chief executive Martin Bain, former director Dave King and chairman Alistair Johnston all came under the microscope - but it is understood no further action is to be taken against anyone else.

 

The Insolvency Service had two years from the point of insolvency in February 14, 2012 to start proceedings.

 

But action has only been progressed against Mr Whyte over that period.

 

The legal move to disqualify Mr Whyte came after a confidential report was submitted to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills by the Insolvency Service's investigators within six months of the club's operating company going into administration.

 

The Secretary of State then decided it was in the public interest to seek a disqualification order over Craig Whyte only.

 

Action can be taken against directors if their conduct has not been satisfactory leading to the disqualification of directors for periods of between two and 15 years.

 

After the two years has expired, disqualification proceedings can only then be made against further individuals with a rare special application to the court and agency insiders say there has to be a "strong argument".

 

However it is understood that there no such application has been made.

 

That means that Mr Whyte is the only executive to face action over conduct from the liquidation of RFC 2012 plc, the new name given to the original operating company Rangers Football Club plc.

 

Mr Whyte, who took over Sir David Murray's majority shareholding on May 6, 2011, was in 2000 disqualified to act as a director of for seven years.

 

The investigators examined the £9 million PAYE and VAT debt to the taxman amassed when the oldco under Craig Whyte's leadership went into administration.

 

Insolvency experts also said directors can be found guilty of misfeasance by giving ownership to someone who was not a fit and proper person.

 

Mr Whyte bought Sir David Murray's majority shareholding in Rangers in May 2011, raised £24 million through selling off the rights to three years of supporters' season ticket money to London-based Ticketus to help complete his £1 share purchase agreement take*over of Rangers and pay off the club's £18m debt with Lloyds Banking Group.

 

An independent Rangers board committee set up to review takeover offers, delayed Mr Whyte's buyout and expressed concern over "a lack of clarity" over the new owner's financial muscle, hours after he had completed his buyout.

 

The committee was led by chairman Alistair Johnston, who was removed from the board later along with Paul Murray, who had launched a late rival takeover deal.

 

The following October Rangers' non-executive directors, John Greig and John McClelland, who were members of the independent board, resigned from their posts at Ibrox saying that they had been isolated following Whyte's takeover.

 

Mr Whyte was given the maximum ban possible in September following a petition raised on behalf of UK Business Secretary Vince Cable after the operating company went into liquidation.

 

Lord Tyre said in a full judgment that Mr Whyte's conduct of the business was "characterised by dishonesty" in a case that "can be regarded as quite out of the ordinary".

 

He said the Ticketus deal funded his acquisition of the club while failing to inform the members of Rangers' independent board committee who were tasked with negotiating the sale of the company.

 

Lord Tyre said Mr Whyte "misrepresented" to them that the funds for purchase of the company were to be provided from his own resources and from the commercial activities of his British Virgin Islands- based Liberty Capital Limited firm.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/h...gers.114970599

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Not a surprise re Bain, aj, Greig etc they all opposed whyte.

[Blue Moon 1,289]

Good news.

 

Rangers were punished for their directors not knowing about Whyte. I always said that was premature.

 

Will the fines be returned to them?

[der Berliner 3,742]

... up until the last bit of the EBT stuff is off the table and everything is laid out regarding the takeover, the SFA and SPL/SPFL will just blank that. And even if it comes to that, they will just claim that they acted in the best interest of all non-Rangers parties and for the good and integrity of the game and ... they will get away with that. Who bar history is gonna judge upon them anyway?

[jhunter 0]

... up until the last bit of the EBT stuff is off the table and everything is laid out regarding the takeover, the SFA and SPL/SPFL will just blank that. And even if it comes to that, they will just claim that they acted in the best interest of all non-Rangers parties and for the good and integrity of the game and ... they will get away with that. Who bar history is gonna judge upon them anyway?

 

they can't do that , they have a duty to all members

 

the club was the victim of a crime and they punished the club

 

we are long way from the SFA escaping their part in this.

[der Berliner 3,742]

they can't do that , they have a duty to all members

 

the club was the victim of a crime and they punished the club

 

we are long way from the SFA escaping their part in this.

 

I know, you know, we know. They know too, but does anyone really expect that anyone of the SFA, SPL/SPFL cabal will be fined or brought before a court of law or repay any fines et al?

[jhunter 0]

I know, you know, we know. They know too, but does anyone really expect that anyone of the SFA, SPL/SPFL cabal will be fined or brought before a court of law or repay any fines et al?

 

it may take years but i believe they have a case and more importantly a cost to answer.