boabie

I was switching through the tv channels a couple of nights ago and saw McAvennie being interviewed on this very subject. The programme was something about celebrities seven major photographs. His had one of McNeil with his arm around his shoulder after the sending off. His main standpoint was that the courts should never have got involved.

No doubt it will be astronomical. However I think they will have stopped some time ago as much of the investigations will have been deemed to be sub judice and left to the police and crown office. I'd think that BDO won't be doing anything until the criminal proceedings are completed.

Which may be what King was alluding to a few weeks ago.

continued ----------- " Prosecutors claim that between January 1 2010 and February 16 2012, at various locations in Scotland, England, France and Monaco, Whyte, Withey, Grier, Whitehouse and Clark indulged in a conspiracy. It is alleged that they conspired to “acquire and obtain by fraud a majority and controlling stake in the shareholding of Rangers.” Prosecutors claim that they acted illegally in their dealings with ticket company Ticketus over a deal regarding the sales of Rangers season tickets. It is claimed they obtained £28,262,094 from Ticketus and Merchant illegally and that they then used the money to persuade Rangers that they could afford to take the club over. Prosecutors allege that they were then able to acquire “85.3 per cent of the issued capital of the club for £1 by fraud and did thus obtain a majority and controlling stake” in the shareholding of the club. The second charge concerns the conduct of Mr Whyte and Mr Withey and a company called Wavetower Limited. It is with regard to a debt owed by Rangers to the Bank of Scotland plc. Prosecutors allege that they “unlawfully” gave the club “financial assistance” by causing Rangers to enter into a “ticket purchase agreement” with Ticketus. It is claimed that this was done for “the sole or main purpose of facilitating the acquisition of the club by providing finance which was lent by the Club to Wavetower Limited which in turn allowed Wavetower Ltd to repay the club’s debt to the Bank of Scotland PLC.” Prosecutors claim that this contravened the Companies Act 2006. SFA The third charge alleges that on May 20 2011 at the Hampden Park premises of the SFA, Mr Whyte concealed the fact that he had been a disqualified company director. It is claimed that he did this to satisfy the SFA that he was a “fit and proper” person and that he could act as director at Rangers football club. It is claimed that Mr Whyte acted fradulently. The fourth charge alleges that between December 13 2010 and January 31 2012, at Ibrox stadium and various locations in Scotland, England and continental Europe, Whyte, Withey, Grier, Whitehouse and Clark also acted illegally again. It is claimed that on these dates, they “did agree to do something that you knew or suspected or ought to reasonably to have known or suspected would enable or further the commission of serious organised crime.” Prosecutors allege that they agreed to participate in a conspiracy which was to “acquire and obtain by fraud a majority and controlling stake in the shareholding of the Rangers Football Club plc through Waytower Limited aforesaid.” Prosecutors claim this contravenes section 28 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010. The fifth charge alleges that on July 16 2012 at the premises of Duff & Phelps and at various locations in Scotland and England, Mr Whitehouse, Mr Clark and Mr Grier, attempted to pervert the course of justice. Prosecutors claim that this happened after being requested by Court of Session judge Lord Hodge to provide a report to him following an allegation of conflict involving Duff and Phelps. The company were appointed administrators to Rangers. The Crown claims that in the report, the claim is made that “prior to the acquisition of Rangers on May 6 2011, Duff and Phelps were never made aware of the terms surrounding the financing of the transaction through Ticketus.” It is claimed that they knew this statement was false and that Whitehouse, Clark, and Grier were aware of the terms surrounding the financing of the transaction through Ticketus. Prosecutors claim that they did this “to avoid detection, arrest and prosecution in respect of the crime libelled in charge 1 hereof and with intent to pervert the course of justice.” The sixth charge alleges that between February 1 2012 and June 14 2012, at various locations in Scotland, Whyte, Whitehouse, Clark and Green conspired together to acquire through the administration of Rangers, “de facto control and ownership of the business and assets of the club.” The seventh charge alleges that between February 1 2012 and and December 31 2012 at Ibrox and other locations throughout Europe, Whyte, Whitehouse, Clark and Green acted illegally. It is alleged that they did “agree to do something that you knew or suspected or ought reasonably to have known or suspected would enable or further the commission of serious organised crime.” Prosecutors claim they conspired to acquire Rangers “for a sum considerably below the market value.” The eighth charge alleges that between March 1 2012 and December 30 2013, at Ibrox, Green obtained “material benefit and a quantity of shares and money by fraud.”

" FORMER Rangers bosses Craig Whyte and Charles Green have appeared in the high court charged with participating in a major fraud. Mr Whyte,44, Mr Green, 62, appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday alongside David Grier,50, David Whitehouse,50, and Paul Clark,51. Prosecutors allege that the five men joined Gary Withey,51, to embark on a course of criminal conduct during their time at the Ibrox club. The businessmen came to prominence following Sir David Murray’s decision to sell Rangers in May 2011. The Crown claims that in the months before and after the takeover, Mr Whyte, Mr Withey, Mr Grier, Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark carried out a fraudulent scheme. Lawyers claim they obtained a total £28,262,094 from ticket company Ticketus and a business called Merchant Turnaround PLC. They also claim that Whyte, Whitehouse, Clark and Green conspired with each other to break the law following the administration of Rangers in 2012. It is claimed they took part in a scheme to acquire the club for a sum less than its true market value. Now prosecutors have begun the process to bring the six men to trial. The Crown were also hoping to bring another man - Imran Ahmad,44, -to trial. However, for reasons which cannot be disclosed, Crown Office lawyers have temporarily stopped proceedings against Mr Ahmad, an ex-club director. Now, the case will next call for another procedural hearing later this year. "

Strapon decides to stay on. The SFA reward him with a 2 year contract. I suppose that's a lot easier for them than doing what they are supposed to do and hunt down somebody who might actually be up to the job.

The High court has the power to hand a life sentence for fraud in Scotland . Point taken though, that isn't what usually happens. Having said that, this is a very high profile case involving not only alleged fraudsters but company administrators and solicitors.

" King was a major shareholder in Old Co, David Murray was not. Murray had ample opportunity to take legal action against Whyte in regards to the intiall Share Purchase Agreement long before we entered administration but chose not to. " That couldn't be more correct. It was specifically stated in the contract between Murray and Whyte that the company could be retaken by Murray if Whyte failed to stick to the terms of the contract. But what also seems to be misunderstood by some when it comes to discussions surrounding events is, Murray was just about the only person NOT the subject of alleged frauds. He got his money. In my opinion if anybody is going to bring oldco back to life it certainly will not be Murray.

" The indictment is understood to run to 75 pages of charges, with one charge alone taking up 12 pages. " If found guilty these guys will be lucky if they ever see the light of day again.

We brought in a world expert from the Netherlands. I dare say he was paid a fortune. His report never saw the light of day.

Absolutely correct SBS but the question leading from that is, WHY ?? Despite all the previous crisis committees and reports over the years how did it come to a situation where we field a team comprising so many second rate players ? Why is it that the stream of Scots heading south to play for , or indeed captain top flight teams has dried up ? If that can't be answered then it proves the SFA are to blame as they are the body in charge of all football played here, from schools upwards.

I'm not in the know but would suspect that not only insurance companies but company law in protecting shareholders interests would also ban a situation where the persons at the top of the tree can indemnify themselves against the costs of defending alleged criminal behaviour . Like other folk have said here , I would prefer to believe that the Scottish legal system has more sense than to allow Greens claim to stand. There may be 2 days set aside for a hearing but I suspect the law lords will be setting down a marker to state to anybody else in the future that nonsense like this will not be tolerated and to stop wasting their time.

I found this advice for company directors interesting ; " Can the company indemnify or insure me against claims? A company may (but is not obliged to) indemnify you in respect of certain proceedings brought against you by third parties. An indemnity can potentially cover both the cost of the claim itself and the costs involved in defending it but never the following: „ the unsuccessful defence of or fines imposed in criminal proceedings; or „ penalties imposed by regulatory bodies. It is common for a company to take out directors’ and officers’ (D&O) insurance on behalf of its directors. Policy cover and terms vary from company to company and insurer to insurer but typically deal with directors’ liabilities arising from claims of negligence, breach of duty or other default. Standard policy exclusions include fraud, dishonesty and criminal behaviour but the directors should ensure they understand any limitations on cover and that insurance policies are kept under regular review. "

The SFA in my opinion have been totally responsible for the decline in Scottish football at all levels. Unfortunately though there is no way we are or ever were going to be able to remove them. Since I became aware of just how incompetent they really were back in the seventies I've been calling for them to be cleared out, starting at the very top. Strapon has failed. Despite the blue skies a few games ago, to finish 4th in that group is a disgrace and a failure. What is really getting my goat is that whether he stays or leaves will be entirely his decision . True to their own abilities the SFA will stand back and wait to see what he decides instead of handing him his P45.

Or is another person tied up in some way in the alleged frauds. Either by turning his eyes the other way or receiving a separate benefit for allowing certain transactions to take place. I think this is the line Rangers will be using.

Right on track Henry McLeish appears on tv waffling about forming yet another committee to yet again sort out the future of Scottish football. The same rubbish has been spouted since the 70's. Our game continues to decline. To the subject at hand, Strapon failed. He should go. Who should replace him ? No idea, the SFA don't pay me hundreds of thousands of pounds to decide that.

I have a great deal of respect for the hard work the guys put into discovering and maintaining the history of our club. I've done the stadium tour a few times but I'll need to put the founders trail on my to-do list.

Durban, Sheffield Wednesday, Miami, Hong Kong, Brisbane, before ending up at Airdrie.

Certainly in at least two cases it was due to them making remarks about us being a new club. Those two are the ones who generally stir up the most criticism when their names come up in relation to our club. There seems to be a kind of memory fog surrounding our situation at that time. There were no guarantees that we would actually gain a licence to play, Green was ignoring the squad and then tried to reintroduce slavery. I for one never liked Green. I didn't buy into his rubbish so maybe I'm just being petty and looking back at the situation from a prejudiced viewpoint.

The story from some who knew what was happening at the time is, the players were left totally out in the cold by Green. Nobody could contact him to find out his plans. Then Green hit the papers saying the players belonged to him and were going nowhere. That was when the union got involved. Apparently even Wishart had a hard task trying to contact Green.

Yes, it's just a pity that McConville wasn't so assiduous with his own paperwork. Maybe if he had been, a load of miners might not have lost thousands of pounds each. I used to fight our corner on that website and his username doesn't ring a bell with me to be honest.

Forsey was the guy the police were looking for when they raided offices in connection with alleged frauds committed against us.

I doubt if he would ever come close to scoring as many as Boyd. But I'm certain he will set up many goals for other players, something I can't recall Boyd ever doing Bruno.

I could only last 5 minutes watching the match. It sounds as though they've forgotten to use mikes to catch crowd noise. That and the jabbering commentator just killed it for me. 2-0 to the French last I looked.

I spent quite a while working on what could possibly have been behind Kings oldco remarks and could only come up with one answer ; somewhere between Murray selling to Whyte, an alleged fraudulent transaction and Green taking over, another alleged fraud having been committed, the true ownership of Rangers both oldco and newco has disappeared into the atmosphere. This raises the question of who exactly carries the authorisation to take civil action to seek recompense against those considered to have been feeding on the corpse post Murray on behalf of those who lost out ? I think King is looking way into the future .