Administrators' Statement On BBC Documentary

[Rangers Football Club 0]

THE following information was given to BBC ahead of the broadcast of tonight's programme:

 

David Grier, who was the engagement partner at MCR, said: "I categorically deny that at the time of the Craig Whyte takeover of Rangers, I had any knowledge that funds from Ticketus were being used to acquire the Club. This accusation is wrong, highly defamatory and betrays a lack of understanding of the facts.

 

"Neither I nor any of my colleagues at MCR provided any professional assistance to Liberty, Wavetower or Craig Whyte, in raising funds, performing financial due diligence, structuring or agreeing the terms of the purchase of the Club from the Murray Group.

 

"Financial due diligence and other work was provided by Saffery Champness, a firm of chartered accountants who specialise in this area, and our primary role was to provide assistance to Liberty Capital in negotiating a settlement and assignment of the debt due to Lloyds Bank.

 

"The reality is that when my concerns about the use of Ticketus funding crystallised over the summer of 2011, I took immediate steps to raise these concerns with controlling directors of Rangers and HMRC.

 

"I had no direct contact with Ticketus prior to the takeover by Wavetower, however we were aware and were party to discussions regarding Ticketus as a recognised source of short term working capital that was used by the Club and that could be a source of such continued funding. These discussions are well-minuted.

 

"At the time there was significant uncertainty surrounding the potential outcome of the 'big' tax case, which could result in the Club being unable to meet a potential liability and therefore face insolvency. As a result we were asked by Liberty Capital in April 2011 to provide advice in writing to them in relation to our view on the possibility of agreeing a time to pay arrangement with HMRC.

 

"At the same time we were also asked to confirm our opinion of what rights a funder of future season tickets would have in the event of an insolvency. This was in contemplation of funding a time to pay arrangement with HMRC.

 

"As we were not aware of the nature and extent of any arrangements for season ticket sales we were unable to provide specific advice without full detail and our letter of 7 April 2011 is clear on this point.

 

"Indeed we state in this letter that we had not had access to documents or knowledge of contractual terms either of any proposed ticketing agreement or proposed purchase from the Murray Group and as a consequence we could not provide further advice without this detail. We did not receive further information and therefore we could not provide further advice on this matter.

 

"At the time of the acquisition, Craig Whyte indicated that he would be able to fund settlement of the big tax case of up to £15 million but we were not involved in the raising of funds or providing corporate finance advice.

 

"We were provided with a copy of a draft email to Ticketus dated 19 April 2011 that mentions the possibility of raising funds, but does not provide any information of quantum or terms of such a proposal. To suggest this email establishes an awareness of Ticketus providing acquisition funding is absurd and ridiculous.

 

"We, along with solicitors acting for the Murray Group and Lloyds Bank, were provided with information from Collyer Bristow to confirm that Liberty Capital had funds at their disposal to both acquire the debt of Lloyds Bank and provide sufficient working capital to satisfy the concerns raised by the independent committee of the Club. The financial forecasts that we had sight of showed the original cash injection to acquire the Club was from Wavetower and not Ticketus.

 

"It is clear now, with the benefit of hindsight, that material information was withheld from us, and others, prior to the acquisition of the Club and, once we discovered the full extent of the funding relationship between Ticketus, Liberty Capital and the Club, we took immediate steps to raise our concern with controlling directors of Rangers and HMRC.

 

"Throughout this process we have acted professionally and provided opinion and recommendations to avoid an insolvency of the Club by outlining alternative courses of action to the directors. We did provide the controlling directors and company secretary of the Club with our written concern that failure to meet their statutory duties could lead to a claim of wrongful trading, however the controlling directors and company secretary always maintained that insolvency could be avoided through the introduction of new capital and/or fundraising with supporters of the Club."

 

Paul Clark, joint administrator, said: "For the BBC to suggest that I deliberately misled or lied to Mark Daly is both grossly insulting and unacceptable to me as an officer of the court. During my conversation with Mr Daly on Feb 22, which was off the record, I said I thought that MCR became aware of the full scale of Ticketus funding in July or August. I gave an honest answer to the best of my recollection as I had not been closely involved in the Rangers takeover work at the time.

 

"For the BBC now to accuse Duff and Phelps of conflicts of interest and unprofessional conduct based on a deep misunderstanding of the true picture is downright irresponsible and defamatory and we will not let the matter rest there.

 

"There is a world of difference between knowing that Ticketus was a potential source of working capital funding for the Club and its new owners (Craig Whyte/Wavetower) - which is our position - and knowing that funding from ticket sales had been effectively used to purchase the Club. The BBC have failed miserably to make that distinction.

 

"At all times during our involvement with Rangers, we have kept HMRC, the Club's largest potential creditor fully informed of developments. These communications included several meetings. When the question of our appointment was considered by the Court of Session on 14 February 2012, HMRC decided to withdraw their application for their own nominees to be appointed as administrators, instead allowing our appointment to proceed. We have continued to keep HMRC fully appraised of our work as Administrators since 14 February."

 

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/football-news/article/2786614

Edited May 24, 2012 by Zappa

[Rangers Football Club 0]

JOINT administrators Duff and Phelps made the following statement:

 

Paul Clark, joint administrator, said: "The allegations made in tonight's programme against Duff and Phelps are untrue, a distortion of the facts and highly defamatory. Discussions are already underway with our solicitors with a view to bringing legal proceedings against the BBC.

 

"We are also hugely disappointed with the irresponsible comments made by Mr Roger Isaacs who is clearly not in possession of the facts.

 

"We made a number of offers to assist the BBC in order they would not make the fundamental errors broadcast this evening and for some inexplicable reason the reporter Mark Daly declined these.

 

"We had also hoped to give interviews stating our case on camera but received strong legal advice against this course of action, bearing in mind the legal proceedings Duff and Phelps have raised against Collyer Bristow. The BBC were informed in writing from our solicitors.

 

"We did however provide the BBC with lengthy written statements stating our position and we are publishing these on the Rangers website.

 

"In broad terms Mr Daly failed miserably to understand the difference between working capital arrangements for the Club and acquisition funding."

 

David Grier, said: "I categorically deny that at the time of the Craig Whyte takeover of Rangers, I had any knowledge that funds from Ticketus were being used to acquire the Club. This accusation is wrong, highly defamatory and betrays a lack of understanding of the facts.

 

"Neither I nor any of my colleagues at MCR provided any professional assistance to Liberty, Wavetower or Craig Whyte, in raising funds, performing financial due diligence, structuring or agreeing the terms of the purchase of the Club from the Murray Group.

 

"Financial due diligence and other work was provided by Saffery Champness, a firm of chartered accountants who specialise in this area and our primary role was to provide assistance to Liberty Capital in negotiating a settlement and assignment of the debt due to Lloyds Bank.

 

"The reality is that when my concerns about the use of Ticketus funding crystallised over the summer of 2011, I took immediate steps to raise these concerns with controlling directors of Rangers and HMRC.

 

"The email referred to in tonight's programme to Ticketus dated 19 April 2011 mentions the possibility of raising funds for working capital but does not provide any information of quantum or terms of such a proposal. To suggest this email establishes an awareness of Ticketus providing acquisition funding is absurd and ridiculous.

 

"Once we discovered the full extent of the funding relationship between Ticketus, Liberty Capital and the club, we took immediate steps to raise our concern with controlling directors of Rangers and HMRC."

 

Mr Clark said the administrators would not comment on the BBC's EBT allegations while the first tier tax tribunal was still active.

 

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/football-news/article/2786598

Edited May 24, 2012 by Zappa

[Zappa 0]

Paul Clark, joint administrator, said: "The allegations made in tonight's programme against Duff and Phelps are untrue, a distortion of the facts and highly defamatory. Discussions are already underway with our solicitors with a view to bringing legal proceedings against the BBC.

 

I seem to remember Whyte saying exactly the same after the beeb's program in October. Don't think he followed through on that threat of legal proceedings.

[andy steel 0]

All beyond me, I'm afraid.

[forlanssister 3,050]

Seem to remember threats of legal action after the last documentary but that was merely part of a deflect and deny strategy this looks akin to that.

[Frankie 8,173]

The business stuff is beyond me but I seem to recall CW saying the same thing last year.

 

A shameful situation.

[UCF2008 0]

The email referred to in tonight's programme to Ticketus dated 19 April 2011 mentions the possibility of raising funds for working capital but does not provide any information of quantum or terms of such a proposal. To suggest this email establishes an awareness of Ticketus providing acquisition funding is absurd and ridiculous..

 

That email clearly points out that the conditions of the Ticketus funding (according to the draft arrangement of April 19th) were that Wavetower gain board control and remove all existing directors. Not to mention the fact that said agreement was to be held by CW undated.

 

Yet Grier would have us believe that this didn't seem at all suspicious to him and was purely in relation to raising funds for working capital?

Edited May 23, 2012 by UCF2008

[forlanssister 3,050]

"We were pure duped man" Part Two.

 

THE following information was given to BBC ahead of the broadcast of tonight's programme:

Edited May 24, 2012 by Zappa

[bluebear54 0]

Ticketus, DM, Duff and Phelps, Liberty, David Grier, CW, Saffery Champness, Wavetower, Lloyds, Murray Group - it's like a grotesque game of pass the parcel, or musical bog-seats.

It would take years, but some of these fucks should be held to account.

Not the Club.

Just the guilty.

[forlanssister 3,050]

Ticketus, DM, Duff and Phelps, Liberty, David Grier, CW, Saffery Champness, Wavetower, Lloyds, Murray Group - it's like a grotesque game of pass the parcel, or musical bog-seats.

It would take years, but some of these fucks should be held to account.

Not the Club.

Just the guilty.

 

It would take a full Judicial enquiry to get to the bottom of this but there are too many vested interests at stake for this to happen.