Free at Last

[Uilleam 6,028]

Prosecution of corner boys crashes and burns. 

 

They were all as pure as the driven snow, as we suspected all along. 

 

A total waste of public money!!

What, the "Prosecution"?

Naw!! The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. 

 

From today's Glasgow Gherald, with charming pictures, which in no way whatsoever, at all, may be categorised or in any sense interpreted as depicting a 'Rogues' Gallery'.

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16053063.Ex_Rangers_execs_finally_in_the_clear_as_club_takeover_fraud_case_ends_with_no_convictions/

Ex-Rangers execs Charles Green and Imran Ahmad finally in the clear as club takeover fraud case ends

 

FORMER Rangers chief executive Charles Green and finance chief Imran Ahmad will face no further proceedings in connection with the club fraud and conspiracy case as prosecutors say there is "now no evidence of a crime".

The decision by the Crown Office finally marks the end of the two-and-a-half-year long proceedings which saw only Craig Whyte face trial and has led to no convictions.



Mr Whyte, who ended up being the last man standing in the long-running case, was cleared in the summer of last year of all charges in connection with his takeover of seven years ago.

But the Crown Office had consistently confirmed up till the end of last year that matters regarding Mr Green and Mr Ahmad remained under consideration and "enquiries are continuing" in the wake of Mr Whyte's acquittal.

That is despite the fact that the time limit on fresh charges under 65(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 expired in September, 2016 and legal experts had said it would be very difficult to bring new charges arising from the two buyouts because of the time bar.



Now it has emerged that the Crown Office has decided to take no further action in the case.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "Crown Counsel has considered the matter and instructed no further action on the basis that there is now no evidence of a crime.”

The original 15 charges in the Rangers case had covered fraud and conspiracy surrounding Mr Whyte's purchase of Rangers from Sir David Murray for a pound in 2011 and the buying of the club's liquidated assets for £5.5 million by the Sevco consortium four months after the business fell into administration in February, 2012.

In June, 2016, it emerged that there were to be no further proceedings against David Whitehouse, David Grier and Paul Clark, who worked for Rangers administrators Duff and Phelps and former club secretary Gary Withey, who worked for Whyte's London law firm, Collyer Bristow and advised Mr Whyte during his takeover.



It was confirmed that allegations against Mr Green, 64, and Mr Ahmad, 47, had been dropped, although Crown counsel said they were considering the position in relation to Green and later it emerged it was to both.

Among the dropped charges was an allegation that Mr Green appropriated for his own use and purposes the sum of £5.5 million which he had obtained by fraud and that he purchased the "business and assets of the club through its corporate entity Sevco Scotland Limited with money provided by investors to Sevco 5088 Limited without their knowledge and agreement."

Also dropped were allegations of fraud and a conspiracy to commit serious organised crime over the Sevco purchase of the club's assets for a sum below its true market value depriving the creditors of rightful sums due to them.

Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark had faced a number of dropped allegations including conspiring with Mr Whyte, Mr Green and Mr Ahmad to defraud the club's creditors of funds and assets.


It was also alleged in that dropped charge that the pair allowed Mr Whyte, Mr Green and Mr Ahmad to acquire the club at "significantly below the true market value".

The dropped charge claimed Mr Ahmad paid Mr Clark and Mr Whitehouse an exclusivity fee of £200,000 as the joint administrators of so-called oldco Rangers.

But it is not expected to be the end of the matter as far as the accused is concerned.

In November, it emerged Mr Whitehouse, 52, was suing former Police Scotland chief constable Philip Gormley and Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC for £9 million with lawyers claiming he was "unlawfully detained" by detectives in November 2014.



David Whitehouse (left) and Paul Clark (right)

It emerged during proceedings that Mr Whitehouse's colleague Mr Clark was also suing the chief constable and Lord Advocate.

Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark were appointed joint administrators of Rangers in 2012 following the sale of the club to Craig Whyte.

They also said that throughout the period of detention, there was no reasonable grounds to suspect that Mr Whitehouse had broken the law.

Mr Whitehouse also claimed that police obtained evidence without following proper legal procedure.

An indictment against Mr Whitehouse was issued without any "evidential basis", his lawyers said.

The actions of police and prosecutors are said to have damaged his reputation of being a first-class financial professional and led to a £1.75m loss in earnings.

 

 

[Gonzo79 15,299]

Scumbags.

[compo 7,385]

Next thing is they will want compensation  .

[pete 2,499]

24 minutes ago, compo said:

Next thing is they will want compensation  .

Put your money on it.

[buster. 5,390]

The law is an ass !

 

In more ways than one.

[Scott7 6,277]

“There is now no evidence of a crime”

 

Lost in the snow is it? Have they checked the shelf behind the swear box. Maybe left it on the bus back from St Petersburg.

 

Rubbish statement. They should have said: “Because of the outcomes of other related cases, the evidence remaining is not sufficient to procure a conviction and it is therefore not in the public interest to proceed.”

 

I expect Green is even now on the ‘phone to his lawyers.

 

 

[der Berliner 3,889]

How convenient. Bad news on the day after a good result.

[buster. 5,390]

A reminder of some detail that I saw elsewhere and have C&P'd to post here..............

---------------------

 

CW – Whyte, GW – Withey, DG – Grier, DW – Whitehouse, PC – Paul Clark, CG – Green, IA Ahmad

Substance of the charges:

1. CW, GW, DG, DW, PC conspired to obtain funds by fraud from Jerome, Merchant and Ticketus to fund the fraudulent purchase of the club (offence was aggravated)
• CW & GW obtained £2,825,000 by fraud from the trustees of the Jerome Pension Fund
• CW & GW obtained £1,000,00 by fraud from Merchant Turnaround PLC
• CW, GW & DG made false representations to Rangers Independent committee about the funding of the purchase
• CW & GW obtained £24,337,094 by fraud from Ticketus
• CW & GW made false representations to the Takeover panel re the funding
• CW failed to disclose a disqualification as a director
• CW & GW made false representation to the PLUS stock exchange re CW’s disqualification
• CW, GW & DG made false representations to Murray Holdings Ltd re funding of the purchase and the future funding of the club including the wee tax case (£2,800,000) and an H&S liability (£1,700,000)

2. CW & GW contravened the proceeds of crime act using the £28,262,094 obtained by fraud when purchasing the club

3. DG, DW & PC failed to report suspicions of Money Laundering by CW & GW using “Financial Assistance” to purchase the club, contrary to the proceeds of crime act

4. CW, GW, DG, DW, PC did conspire together to act as in Charge 1

5. CW & GW breached the Companies Act by using the clubs own money to fund the acquisition (Financial Assistance”

6. CW & GW committed fraud by failing to disclose CW’s disqualification to the SFA

7. CW & DG committed fraud by falsely submitting invoices for £253,800 to Rangers which should have been submitted to Liberty Capital.

8. CW & DG committed fraud by falsely submitting invoices for £409,320 to Rangers which should have been submitted to Liberty Capital.

9. CW & DG committed fraud by falsely submitting invoices for £66,120 to Rangers which should have been submitted to Liberty Capital.

10. CW, GW, DG, DW & PC conspired to defraud creditors, including non-payment of taxes and while they ran the club in order to facilitate CW in buying back the club debt free, which was in breach of the Companies Act

11. DW & PC perverted the course of justice when stating to Lord Hodge that they were unaware of the Ticketus arrangements

12. CW, GW, DW, PC, CG & IA conspired to defraud creditors by purchasing the club’s business and assets significantly below market value.
• CW, DW & PC sought to put the club in administration• Caused the court to appoint DW & PC as administrators
• DW & PC falsely pretended to act in the interests of all creditors
• CG falsely presented himself as an independent purchaser
• DW & PC pretended that the purpose of administration was to get the best return for creditors
• CW acquired Sevco 5088 of which CG was appointed director• CG received £25,000 from CW to pay legal fees related to Sevco 5088
• CG paid the legal fees with the £25,000
• IA paid the administrators DW & PC £200,000 as an exclusivity fee
• DW & PC granted Sevco 5088 exclusivity to the exclusion of other prospective purchasers
• CW paid £137,000 into IA’s mother’s account as part payment of the exclusivity fee
• DW & PC completed a sale and purchase agreement with CG on behalf of both Sevco 5088 and Sevco Scotland for a price of £5,500,000, significantly below market value.
• DW & PC falsely advised creditors that SPL prize money was reflected in the consideration paid for the assets, but the sale and purchase agreement reflected a “nil” consideration
• Permitted the transfer of £291,823.10 from Rangers Youth Development to help fund the purchase of assets

13. CW, GW, DW, PC, CG & IA participated in a conspiracy to purchase the business and assets of the club depriving creditors of the rightful sums due to them and the material benefit going to themselves

14. CW and IA defrauded investors in Sevco 5088 and RIFC, acquiring money and shares by fraud and to increase the value of their shares in RIFC
• CW pretended he had no interest in Sevco 5088• Induced investors to put £5,500,000 into Sevco 5088
• CG caused the change of exclusivity from Sevco 5088 to Sevco Scotland without proper approval
• CG did appropriate the £5,500,000 invested in Sevco 5088 by fraud without the investors knowledge or agreement
• CG & IA allotted themselves 2,000,000 shares
• CG & IA changed the name of Sevco Scotland to The Rangers Football Club
• CG & IA appointed Cenkos as a nomad but failed to advise them of the source of funding through Sevco 5088
• CG & IA thereby raised £21,000,000 in the IPO by fraud

15. CW failed to provide police with mobile phone and laptop passwords, when requested, in breach of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act by police contrary to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

 

 

 

[SlimJim 18]

This is why I’m very wary of the attitude of some fans that take umbridge to any criticism of the “club”. The BBC for example were on to Charles Green fairly early on and were shouted down by the fans. Objective journalism, where it exists, should not be decried. I do think there is an anti- Rangers agenda among selected journalists (including at the BBC) but people need to scrutinise what’s being said before knee jerk reactions.