Ex-Rangers administrators David Whitehouse and Paul Clark in £21m settlement

[Scott7 6,018]

30 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

Nothing to do with politics

And everything to do with bungling

[Bill 13,717]

2 hours ago, RANGERRAB said:

I don’t think they were wrong to pursue anyone they thought was involved in wrongdoing during the administration. Nothing to do with politics 

With respect that’s not the point. By all means investigate but what we’re talking about here is embarking on actual prosecutions that could never have been justified by anything those investigations revealed. So, if we now know those prosecutions were not grounded in law, what was the motivation and who took the decisions to proceed. 

[alexscottislegend 2,330]

No doubt one day a definitive book will be written detailing exactly who was responsible in the main for this whole sorry mess. I remember Sir David Murray saying again and again that he would never sell the club to anyone who did not have Rangers best interests at heart. I recall a poster on here  - name of 'Maineflyer' - who warned us time and time again that Murray was not a trustworthy custodian. I wonder if he knew something.

[Bill 13,717]

4 hours ago, Scott7 said:

And everything to do with bungling

You can't seriously believe that's true. Once might have been a mistake but repeated failed prosecutions has to something more sinister.

[RANGERRAB 3,680]

1 hour ago, alexscottislegend said:

No doubt one day a definitive book will be written detailing exactly who was responsible in the main for this whole sorry mess. I remember Sir David Murray saying again and again that he would never sell the club to anyone who did not have Rangers best interests at heart. I recall a poster on here  - name of 'Maineflyer' - who warned us time and time again that Murray was not a trustworthy custodian. I wonder if he knew something.

Murray was a serial borrower whom the banks seemed to trust for whatever reason. He had a business empire built on sand

[RANGERRAB 3,680]

9 minutes ago, Bill said:

You can't seriously believe that's true. Once might have been a mistake but repeated failed prosecutions has to something more sinister.

The Scottish justice system has been flawed for some time now. There are many failed prosecutions & questionable prosecutions.

 

[ChelseaBoy 2,441]

7 hours ago, Bill said:

The thing in all this that I'd like to understand is the role that was played by the SNP government in these "malicious" prosecutions and exactly what their objectives were. So many people were charged or prosecuted and they all resulted in cases being dropped, often with damages being awarded. Who decided to pursue these prosecutions and why? I find it impossible to believe it was the police acting of their own accord.

This brings to mind the various Vote Leave "malicious" prosecutions that were brought with the only objective being to maximise the percieved "wrongdoing" of the Leave side who obvioulsy couldnt have won without breaking the rules. They were brought by individuals or the regulator acting on "advice received" again from establishment figures with self professed skin in the game. All, it turned out had little merit and were dropped, some with damages being awarded to the accused. It all smacks of certain people with a modicum of influence not getting what they want and wanting to cause embarrasment. 

[Uilleam 5,948]

The case rumbles on, leaving no stone unturned........

 

Rangers stars Steven Naismith and Steven Whittaker agreed wage cuts to help Ibrox backroom staff

James Mulholland

Friday May 28 2021, 12.01am, The Times

 

Steven Naismith, who now plays for Hearts, feared backroom staff would suffer more than players if Rangers made people redundant

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rangers-stars-steven-naismith-and-steven-whittaker-agreed-wage-cuts-to-help-ibrox-backroom-staff-jdnds5rld

 

The former Rangers forward Steven Naismith has said it was a “big deal” to ensure non-playing staff would not lose their jobs as part of moves to prevent the club being liquidated.

Naismith, 34, who now plays for Hearts, told how his contract was rewritten to ensure administrators tasked with securing the club’s financial future would not fire backroom employees.

The Court of Session heard how Naismith secured the guarantee in the months before leaving Rangers to sign for Everton in August 2012.

He told advocate Andrew Young QC that he and fellow player Steven Whittaker, 36, agreed to take a cut in wages in return for the assurance.

The evidence emerged on the 16th day of the case during questioning by Young, who is acting for the club’s former administrators Paul Clark and David Whitehouse in a multimillion-pound compensation action brought by the financial services firm BDO.

Naismith said that he and Whittaker were worried that non-playing staff would “suffer” more than players in the event of redundancies. He said that you hear about “when clubs are in these situations and it effectively is a lot of the people that do more for the club than most that suffer . . For me and Steven at the time, it was a big deal.”

 

(..................................................................................)

 

Yesterday the court heard that West Bromwich Albion were interested in signing Naismith and that the proposed deal would have increased his wages by up to 50 per cent. The court heard that Albion thought Rangers were paying Naismith more than his actual deal.

The court also heard from Bill Popp, a sports marketing expert who was involved in attempts by the US businessman Bill Miller to buy Rangers. Miller, who made his fortune in trucking, withdrew in May 2012.

The court heard that Miller had information that players and management staff were being paid “way above” market value. Popp said: “What I do recall is that it did seem by doing this, whoever structured that agreement made the club nearly unbuyable. Your liability was going to jump suddenly to having all these key staff with big exit packages.

“If I remember correctly those were obligations of the club — someone was going to have pay those obligations.”

 

The hearing, before judge Lord Tyre, continues.

 

 

Is it strange, even contradictory, that WBA thought that Rangers was paying Naismith more than was the case, indicating a salary, which, while considerable, was below par, but Popp/Miller found that players and management were being rewarded with pay "way above" market value?

 

Maybe it's just the Yanks' inability to get to grips with soccer, and its madcap ways. Straitened financial circumstances but maintaining a high wage bill probably would have seemed imprudent and unsustainable to the Americans. 

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by Uilleam

[der Berliner 3,749]

Lost a bit of track here, so can someone bring me/us up to date?

 

D&P were suing the police et al for money, them 21m.

 

And BDO where chasing D&P for much more too?

[Uilleam 5,948]

A brief resume of HMRC submissions to the trial appears.

 

The HMRC "Investigator" averred that he

"......highlighted the risk of HMRC being perceived to be seen as inconsistent as historically it had taken more forceful action in respect of other Scottish football clubs.”

Really? I wonder who the clubs were, or the club was.

Third Lanark? 

It is not reported if he was challenged on this, or asked to clarify. 

 

Furthermore he opines that 

"...tax non-compliance at Rangers..."  was

 “on a level that I haven’t seen from other football clubs”.

Well, that maybe the case, if you posit your view on the fantasy figures that HMRC claimed to have identified, and which Messrs BDO have pared down very significantly (and a f a I k, continue to do so).

Again, is is not reported if he was challenged on this, or asked to justify the HMRC initial estimates, or even to clarify. 

 

Of course, one might wonder why HMRC is being dragged into this dispute at all. 

 

HMRC ‘wanted full investigation into Rangers unpaid tax’

David Leask

Monday May 31 2021, 12.01am, The Times

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hmrc-wanted-full-investigation-into-rangers-unpaid-tax-r6vs8llvm

 

HM Revenue & Customs wanted to push Rangers straight into liquidation to ensure a full investigation of millions of pounds of unpaid tax, new court evidence on the club’s financial collapse in 2012 has revealed.

For the first time a senior HMRC official has set out the body’s thinking on how to handle the financial meltdown of one of Scotland’s most important sporting franchises.

Rangers Football Club plc went into administration in 2012 and then, under pressure from the taxman, into liquidation months later. The club itself survived, its name and assets bought out of liquidation by a new company.

 

However, Mike Baird, an HMRC investigator, has told a court that he had been eager to see Rangers go directly into liquidation.

 

During a series of written and oral submissions reported by The Herald on Sunday, Baird said that he “believed an independent review by a liquidator maximised our chance of securing greater recovery for creditors”.

He added: “I also highlighted the risk of HMRC being perceived to be seen as inconsistent as historically it had taken more forceful action in respect of other Scottish football clubs.”

 

Baird was giving evidence in a case brought by BDO, the eventual liquidators, against its administrators, David Whitehouse and Paul Clark of Duff and Phelps, in the Court of Session.

BDO is suing for nearly £57 million, saying the men’s strategy in administration cost creditors millions. Whitehouse and Clark have said that BDO expected a “bonkers” strategy of a “fire sale” of Rangers that would have “effectively shut the club down for good”.

The pair were investigated over their role in the collapse but charges were eventually dropped. They were paid £21 million in compensation for what was ruled to be a malicious prosecution.

 

Baird said he had concerns over a “risk of conflict” if Whitehouse and Clark became involved in the administration. The two men had advised Craig Whyte, the former Rangers owner, over his 2011 acquisition.

Baird stressed that HMRC was concerned by Rangers’ alleged use of employee benefit trusts to pay staff, including players, and avoid tax. It wanted a full investigation of tax affairs.

Baird described tax non-compliance at Rangers as being “on a level that I haven’t seen from other football clubs”. He added: “That’s why I personally thought an exit liquidation would be the better route to try to understand what was going on.”