exposingtherhats Latest Report (Not A Blog)

[ian1964 10,613]

A Report (definitely not a blog)

Posted on May 9, 2016

 

As of today I am twitter’s new self proclaimed expert on tax and governance issues in world football. I note that I have double the amount of twitter followers as last week’s self proclaimed expert on tax and governance issues in world football so I think we can all agree my credentials are impeccable and beyond dispute.

 

Today I have decided to write a report about a serious failure in governance by the SFA which has cost one of their member clubs millions of pounds. Please note again that this is a report (not a blog) so if the SMSM don’t print it verbatim in then please hound them as they are clearly part of a conspiracy.

 

The issues I will cover in my report (not a blog) centre around the SFA’s actions during the ill-fated tenure of Craig Whyte at Rangers FC. Currently Mr Whyte faces a number of charges relating to his dealings with Rangers Football Club, one of them is an allegation that he defrauded the SFA by hiding a directorship ban in order to obtain Fit and Proper (F&P) status. I understand the police decided to pursue this charge after speaking to senior figures at the SFA who confirmed they would not have considered Mr Whyte a Fit and Proper person had he declared the directorship ban.

 

Seems a reasonable enough stance doesn’t it? Guy has been previously banned for an extensive period for being a company director you don’t let him run one of your member clubs.

 

Here is the damning part of my report(not a blog) though, Craig Whyte ran Rangers and retained F&P status until February 2012 when he took Rangers into administration under the control of his friends at Duff & Phelps. The SFA discovered Whyte’s directorship ban on the 18th October 2011 when Mark Daly a BBC journalist showed them evidence of it and asked for comment which they chose not to provide. A BBC documentary was then aired on the 20th October 2011 which made Whyte’s directorship ban public knowledge. Why did the same senior executives at the SFA who claimed to Police Scotland Whyte would not have been considered fit and proper if he’d declared his ban allow him to retain that status for 5 months after they found out his lie?

 

No Craig Whyte in control in February 2012 would have meant no Duff and Phelps, it would have more than likely meant the club could have emerged from administration via the CVA rather than the Newco route and would have certainly meant Whyte’s co-accused Charles Green wouldn’t have got near the club.

 

The consequences of the SFA decision to allow Craig Whyte to retain Fit and Proper status were massive with insolvency, Rangers booted into the lowest division, the Green consortium gaining control & asset stripping the club.

 

With the help of my co-contributor @ancientface who helped put together this report (not a blog) I estimate the cost of the SFA’s errors to Rangers Football Club at around £80 million. My report (not a blog) also reaches the conclusion that Rangers have been more adversely affected by any SFA errors over the last few years than any other club which should be recognised with suitable redress.

 

I hereby call for an independent inquiry into the SFA’s disgraceful treatment of Rangers Football Club, I also call for the SMSM to be hounded until they print my report(not a blog) verbatim.

 

 

 

Mark my words if my demands aren’t met I’ll crowdfund the fuck out of this issue.

 

https://exposingtherhats.wordpress.com/

[RANGERRAB 3,449]

Paul Murray did a due diligence on Whyte before he got Rangers did he not ?

[the gunslinger 3,366]

I don't think so. He was an interested party in the sale of the club so had no input to decisions regarding it.

[forlanssister 3,092]

Paul Murray did a due diligence on Whyte before he got Rangers did he not ?

 

A fan got Private Investigators to compile a report.

[RANGERRAB 3,449]

Seriously, how difficult would it have been to find out about Whyte & his background?

[limeburner 0]

I would imagine this will be exposed during the court proceedings and the circumstances weighed up etc.

Is it really new?

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Seriously, how difficult would it have been to find out about Whyte & his background?

Everything the investigation found out was in the newspapers

[Davie P 4]

Didn't Alastair Johnson bring this to David Murray's attention when they begged him not to sell to Whyte?

[der Berliner 3,548]

Ex-Rangers owner Craig Whyte was being chased by the taxman for £3.74m BEFORE he started his catastrophic reign at Ibrox

 

07:30, 5 Aug 2014 Updated 07:39, 5 Aug 2014 By Keith Jackson

 

HMRC had instructed debt enforcers to chase Whyte with a bill for almost £4million and threaten him with bankruptcy in May 2011 - the same month that he bought Rangers.

 

 

 

THE taxman was chasing Craig Whyte for £3.7million before he took over Rangers.

 

HMRC focused on Whyte’s personal finances and made several failed attempts to get him to pay his dues before, during and after his catastrophic reign at Ibrox.

 

The taxman regarded Whyte as a “flight risk”, fearing he might flee the country without settling his huge tax bill.

 

Documents seen by the Record show:

 

* The authorities instructed debt enforcers to chase Whyte with a bill for almost £4million and threaten him with bankruptcy in May 2011, the same month that he bought Rangers.

 

* It was the culmination of a probe begun the previous year when the taxman learned Whyte had returned to the UK in 2005.

 

* Whyte was continually warned he was failing to submit satisfactory tax returns and risked being fined.

 

* He actually claimed at one stage to have a UK taxable worth of just £24 in accrued bank interest.

 

* Yet when he struck the notorious deal with Ticketus for funds to finance his Rangers takeover, he gave the firm a personal guarantee he was worth nearly £33million.

 

This “guarantee”, which was obtained by HMRC, helped them calculate Whyte’s £3,741,835.29 tax bill but he continued stalling tactics to avoid coughing up.

 

At the same time he was able to run up a further £15million in unpaid taxes and penalties during his nine months in charge of Rangers.

 

Whyte had bought Rangers for £1 from Sir David Murray in May 2011, while agreeing to wipe out the club’s £18million debts.

 

But on February 14, 2012, he made a legal move to have the Ibrox outfit placed into administration.

 

By then the club’s debt had rocketed to around £50million.

 

HMRC then rejected a Company Voluntary Arrangement, forcing the club’s owners to be liquidated in a move which also saw Rangers having to start again in the lowest tier of Scottish football.

 

David Murray has long blamed the taxman for the demise of Rangers, saying the spectre of the Big Tax Case – a potential bill of between £46m and £100million, hanging over the club forced his hand in selling up.

 

But a sizeable proportion of Rangers fans still hold Murray at least partly responsible for the club’s demise, arguing he should not have sold to Whyte, whose reputation had already been questioned.

 

Ultimately, Rangers won the Big Tax Case when a tribunal ruled Employee Benefit Trusts paid to players were in fact loans not subject to tax – and HMRC’s appeal against that judgment was rejected this year.

 

Fans remain furious at the taxman for bringing the case in the first place, and the latest documents from July 2012 obtained by the Record are unlikely to quell their anger.

 

They show HMRC began building their case against Whyte from the moment his proposed take over first hit the headlines in November 2010, six months before he was eventually handed the keys to Ibrox.

 

The paperwork from the taxman’s high net worth unit states: “HMRC became aware that Whyte had returned to live in the UK when the press carried stories in 2010 that he was potentially going to purchase Rangers Football Club plc.

 

“HMRC discovered that Whyte had been back in the UK since 2005. He did not notify HMRC of his return to the UK, nor did he complete tax returns.”

 

The documents go on to chronicle various atttempts by the taxman to force Whyte to detail his finances and warnings of fines he faces if he fails to comply.

 

In the absence of his co-operation, the tax office made their own calculations and issued Whyte with demands for £1million for the financial year 2006-07 and £1.2million for the following year.

 

Whyte did finally submitted some returns. But the documents note: “The returns contained entries in respect of net UK bank interest of £24 for 2006-07 and £491 for 2007-08.”

 

This pattern continues throughout the reports, until a damning revelation centring on Whyte’s takeover of Rangers when he secured funding from Ticketus to head off the club’s future debt in exchange for money from season ticket sales.

 

Presumably to convince Ticketus he was a genuine businessman, Whyte gave his own word that he was good for the investment, according to the HMRC documents.

 

They state: “The personal guarantee included a statement of Whyte’s net worth, signed by him, which showed he had net assets with a value of £32,956,843.”

 

This was the evdience HMRC needed to slap Whyte with the tax bill of £3,741,835.29 at the time of his takeover.

 

Just four days after he posed for pictures with the SPL trophy at Rugby Park following a thrilling last day climax to the league campaign, a letter was written to Whyte by HMRC’s higher debt manager detailing the claim and giving him seven days to pay in full.

 

Whyte was warned that a warrant would be served on him by a sheriff officer who would also provide him with a leaflet entitled Dealing with Debt to help him assess his options.

 

The letter continues: “If the debt remains unpaid, I will arrange to present a sequestration petition in your local sheriff court. The effect of this is that you are likely to be made bankrupt and a Trustee appointed to sell your assets and pay your creditors.”

 

Even then Whyte continued to stall, appealing to a tribunal against the judgment. As HMRC do not discuss private tax dealings, the outcome as yet remains unknown.

 

But the emergence of HMRC’s serious concerns about Whyte before his takeover prompted further anger among senior Rangers figures.

 

Alastair Johnston, Rangers chairman at the time, pleaded with Murray not to sell the club to Whyte. He was subsequently axed.

 

Presented with the revelations last night, he said: “On the back of this, I would welcome a full-scale, independent investigation into the actions of HMRC around the Rangers issue.”

 

Former director Paul Murray added: “I have always said that what has happened to Rangers has been nothing short of disgraceful.

 

“The club has been the victim of a fraud. A lot of people have made a lot of money at the club’s expense and it has to end.

 

“It is in the public interest to find out exactly what has happened and then to take action. Justice must be done and be seen to be done.”

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ex-rangers-owner-craig-whyte-being-3992415

 

While HMRC was under no obligation or may even have been legally bound not to expose this, you do wonder how none of the people involved in this takeover got wind of this or Whyte's previous dealings. Likewise, it is a bit strange how "HMRC-leakists" were completely silent at the time. That said, it remains a mystery whether anyone could have stopped Whyte from taking over, as Alaistair Johnston's and Paul Murray's words were loud but fell on deaf ears amongst those who mattered - essentially Lloyds BG.

 

PS: SMSM - Scottish Main Stream Media ... wish people would give at least one full version of their abbreviations ...

Edited May 9, 2016 by der Berliner

[the gunslinger 3,366]

It's simple rangers fans at hmrc can hold their water.