The enormity of the forthcoming SPL Commission report could easily be lost in the ocean of headlines which has engulfed this matter in recent years. I’ve noted below more information from the recent First Tier Tribunal report on Rangers tax case, in an attempt to clarify some of the key issues.
From The Evidence:
“The Appellants’ first witness was Mr Red, a senior member of the group’s tax function. He is a Chartered Tax Advisor and qualified as a tax inspector previously to joining the Appellants.”
“Mr Red insisted in his evidence that the Trust was not a means of “tax avoidance””.
“It was noted in an internal memo prepared by Mr Red dated 8 September 2005 to the Board of MIH that he had described the Trust as a form of “tax avoidance scheme””.
Dissenting opinion from Ms Poon:
The Nature of the Side-letters
“Another strand of evidence being tested was the nature and purpose of the side-letters. Asked about the secrecy surrounding the side-letters, referring to the fact that they were not lodged with the SFA, nor disclosed in the long period of HMRC’s enquiry, Mr Red’s reply was: ‘I still say there is nothing secret about them. We have nothing to hide in these side letters’.
“It is not accepted that there had been no deliberate concealment of the side-letters, in view of how the first side-letter only came to light through the seizure of Mr Berwick’s file nearly four years into the enquiry.
“It is not accepted that the nondisclosure of the side-letters arose from a ‘credible’ view that Mr Red considered the side-letters irrelevant to HMRC’s enquiry. As a former Inspector of Taxes, Mr Red knew, or should have known, that the side-letters were highly relevant to the enquiry.”
“The side-letters showed a form of contractual arrangement, and they proved linkage between the sums contributed into the sub-trusts at the appointed dates and their withdrawal as loans from the sub-trusts as contemporaneous transactions. The contractual aspect and the linkage between the amounts of contributions to the main Trust and the sums loaned had been repeatedly raised in the enquiry correspondence.
“A fair conclusion to be drawn from the circumstantial evidence on the one hand, and Mr Red’s oral evidence on the other, is that the side-letters had been actively concealed. The reason for the concealment might have been, in Mr Red’s view, the side-letters could be incriminating evidence against the impression of the trust operation that he had been trying to give.”
“While not denying the proposition put to him by the Respondents that ‘there’s an overarching contract with each of the footballers, consisting of the written contract and the side letters’, Mr Red maintained that ‘it’s our view that the side-letter or the letters of undertaking do not need to be registered or lodged with the SFA’ (Day 3/31-32).”
So, in evidence, Rangers witness Mr Red, did not deny the proposition that there was an overarching contract with footballers consisting of the declared contract and side-letters, but “it’s our view” that side-letters did not need to be lodged with the lodge SFA. Ms Poon suggests a fair conclusion is the side-letters were “actively concealed” as they could be “incriminating evidence”.
The SFA has issued disciplinary action against many clubs for erroneous registration but no club has ever faced a charge of actively concealing information necessary for proper registration.
The SFA president was a working director of Rangers when “our view” was established and was legally responsible for the club’s actions. As I noted yesterday, but, frankly, can still not comprehend, on publication of this report the president announced himself “somewhat vindicated” by its contents.
Majority opinion:
John McClelland became a board member of Rangers in 2000 (legally responsible for conduct and oversight) and according to Wikipedia held senior board level positions in the electronics industry. He was also a director of the SPL (legally responsible for conduct and oversight) between the company being formed 1997 and 2008.
The majority opinion, which favoured Rangers position in regards to income tax, noted the following about Mr Indigo, who was “a board member of Rangers since 2000. His previous career was in industry, latterly serving in senior executive roles.”
Mr Indigo “acknowledged that he was, however, aware of the overall content of arrangements made with players and did not consider these to be “secret”. He believed that the Trust had been used to pay appearance money and bonuses.”
According to rules established by SPL directors, including Mr McClelland, money paid in connection with football, including appearance money, has to be registered with the league. It also has to be registered with the SFA.
When the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission reports, we will discover if this is what passes as vindication in Scottish football, or if a senior officeholder of the SFA, and others, will be dismissed in disgrace and banned, sine die, from the game.
We are busy pulling the next issue of CQN Magazine together. If you would like to write an article, or take out some advertising , get in touch, article@cqnmagazine.co.uk.
[calameo code=000390171980e8545b80a lang=en page=10 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
748 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- ...
- 20
- »
the spirit of arthur lee
20:56 on 26 February, 2013
The mighty Stirling draw level
>>>>>>>>>>>>
he he
Well done The Young Hoops!
Go On You Bhoys in Green!
HH!
Stirling Albion 1 Perfidious Albion 1, 55 mins
Ronaldo makes a sneaky V sign to the Barca fans after scoring.
Madrid look more up for this and suppose best chance of silverware this season.
Forgot that mob were playing…..
Hadn’t noticed the huns were playing until a few minutes ago.
A tribute act playing!!
the hunsa re dead; sevco are playing
THT @TheHumanTorpedo
Gerry Armstrong scored in Spain & then spent a couple of seasons in Mallorca. A remarkably similar CV to your average ‘Club 18-30’ rep.
bournesouprecipe
20:49 on
26 February, 2013
Yes…….Missing
SSN………………Stirling Albion goal was against the run of play, and the holding company only.
Stirling are the established club after all
BT
They’re on the park. Playing is a bit of a stretch.
Anybody know what time sevco are getting their penalty tonight.
Is it before or after the Stirling player is going to get set off?
Johnson’s motor car (courtesy of the Dubliners).
Had a real good laugh this afternoon (whilst lurking) at the posts on first cars – some of you Bhoys had top-of-the-range models; Anglias, Cortinas, Capris, Fiats etc compared to my first set of wheels!
My first motor car was (can’t remember which – few ran for more than 3-4 weeks) either a Ford Popular or a Mayflower.
The Popular had a 3-speed gearbox which you had to double de-clutch when changing down to climb a hill – I ended up with a left thigh like a ‘clean and jerk’ weightlifter. The bonnet was side-opening (both sides) – so you had to guess which to open to avoid getting scalded when the engine overheated. The block eventually cracked and I got £12 for scrap (affectionately known as a trade-in back then).
The Mayflower was a strange car – gear change was via a chicken-leg contraption on the steering column. No ‘sports suspension’ on this baby – leaf springs that when they cracked you had to weld on a section of angle-iron in order to avoid the car sitting at 45 degrees when parked. It did have its advantages (courting wise) – it had a front bench-seat.
Cars were; bought, sold, traded for sums ranging between £10-30 (always cash) – no MOT’s, previous service history – tyres were considered road worthy providing the canvass wasn’t showing.
Exhausts were typically repaired with an empty soup-can (or similar) – hack out rusty section, bridge can (having used tin opener to remove the bottom of) between both jagged sections, secure with wire, bang in some gum stuff and bandage – good as new!
Body work needs repaired? Dig out rusty section – fill with wet newspaper and slap on a few pounds of Cataloy (believe it was a trade-name). Allow to set then use a rasp to remove rough surface, sandpaper and apply a few coats of what was called ‘touch-up’ paint – good as new!
Can even remember having a Riley complete with running-boards along the side (for those old enough they used to feature in ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ – in black and white on the TV).
Was 21 before I got the car of my dreams – a second-hand Mini Cooper ‘S’ (re-bored to 1298cc) complete with; straight-through exhaust, ‘go-faster’ stripes and ‘white-walled’ tyres – ‘bees knees’ with the girls. With a ‘tranny’ on the back parcel shelf (for the benefit of doubt – only 2 people in the car – me and her) – a love machine!
You can’t beat the old first car – the squib, banger, jallopey(sp) – back then M3 and M5 were Maths periods at high-school.
Road-runnerCSC!
tallybhoy:20:35 on 26 February, 2013
>>>>>>
Good: get him back intae the wee bit mair industrial epl and get some proper lumps kicked ootae him.
The arrogant oily snidey sardine.
And I’m being polite.
: > }
1-0 Ross County
Test
IKEA meatballs contain horse DNA………….. There’s a joke in there somewhere, but you’ll have to make it up yourselves.
ABANDONED! Cowdenbeath v Partick Thistle stopped due to fog with the score 2-1 to Cowdenbeath. #bbcsportsound
Who’s playing Stirling? Actually…..who gies a feck, and why?
Fabregas is the weak link ….. He is not Barcelona class
NFL would have introduced a Barca sub by now *overdue*
praecepta @ 21:06
Superb.
Gun Gum – that got my MK2 Cortina – UPK944F – through a few MOTs.
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=tablet-gws&hl=en&q=gun+gum&oq=gun+gum&gs_l=tablet-gws.12…0.0.1.11928.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les%3B..0.0…1ac.4.4.tablet-gws.T3-LFEDJjaM&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&bvm=bv.42965579,d.d2k&fp=343cc0d150bf241d&biw=600&bih=904&biv=i%7C0%3Bd%7C3etUkEO3uVhylM%3A
Who hoo Ronaldo 0-2
Great finish Ronaldo. It’s all over now.
Barca not the same team…..
what price where they this morn?
praecepta @ 21:06
With a ‘tranny’ on the back parcel shelf (for the benefit of doubt – only 2 people in the car – me and her) – a love machine!
I’m auld enough to know yer “tranny” was a transistor radio !!
Some youngsters will be shocked at you sharing your love machine wae a “tranny” ;-)
2-0 real what a price they were.
John McClelland and David Murray, When i worked in Mimtec up in Brucefield,i came across McClelland a couple of times,seemed alright when i spoke to him.As far as i know he was well up in I B M IN France, Murray got a lot of work from there ,and i mean plenty of work.Baird RD at that time was bursting at the seams.the good thing about that it kept a lot of people in work for a long time, so there fingers were in the pie even then.Were is McClelland now?all in all them that ran Mimtec were in my opinion were shady characters,
Michael @ 21:15
That’s the stuff – though I think it was in the ‘development’ stages back then (pre-environmental issues)!
I was 21 before I got a reggie with a letter in it – ‘C’.
Barca have not been the same team since we took them to school…
Reposted every first Car day
I passed my driving test a very long time ago in a VW Beetle, it had every body panel unoriginal, and 9 previous owners. The two, laughingly described as, doors would only shut when NOT raining, and when WAS raining the headlights also came on full beam. I used a bungee arrangement to hold the doors shut at first spit of rain however, they would swing open alarmingly when cornering at speeds in excess of 12 mph. It could do 50 mph, on a slight downward incline with a following wind, but with the intermittant brakes, such speeds were only when feeling ‘reel confident’ usually after a trip to the pub in Main St. MPG was quite good as most journeys involved some pushing and free-wheeling. Indication was mostly hand signals to indignant drivers and screaming ‘get out of the way’ and when the brakes decided to have a ‘rest’………..the hand-brake was firm, except on the times it regularly left the mountings.
Oh yes, and the windows did not fit in to the body work for some reason. The car used to fill up with water at every opportunity, strangely, even when it wasn’t raining? Still the the head mechanic at the ole Volksway Garage in Rug’len told me to drill holes in the floor panels behind the front seats. Perfect with all the holes in the floor it soon drained away in no time. He was innovative and ahead of his time, was this an early attempt at air conditioning?
But, here’s the best bit, if the engine decided to ‘play up’ it could easily be rectified, with a well placed tap from a wooden tent mallet and a re-spray of WD40. It was reliable though………….you could always depend on it never over heating as there wasn’t any heat inside the entire body shell, and in winter if the traffic lights were at red, it would ice up with your breath. Not a problem, as you could soon boil hot water bottles inside the engine compartment and enjoy a rest, with some tea and cake of course, whilst waiting for them to heat up. Actually, I quite enjoyed the enforced rest from the tiresome effort of driving!
Spares were not a problem as any old bits could be made to fit with a hacksaw and lump hammer.The other good thing about it was you could always tell when I was in the vicinity by the fumes cloud and terrified screaming of the locals, and the neds never tried to steal it, not least that I know of because they knew it wouldn’t start.
It was particularly good for parking, by impact; excellent for small spaces?
Still I miss that car as it had character (mostly bad), every journey was an adventure and she was called, rather originally I thought, Avril.One day on the way to work Mrs B decided she would not get into Avril again, ever, and she made me get rid of it…..I sold it to a one legged man with a squint and nervous tic……………………I still often wonder what happened to him?
Di Maria,
Fantastic player
FT 1-0 Ross County
They are up to 3rd equal on points with Inverness and they play each other this weekend.
Should be interesting.
Armageddon?
10 years ago if anyone had said Ross County and Inverness would be Celtic’s closest challengers and Rangers would be reincarnated in Division 3 holding on grimly to an away point at Stirling Albion they would have been locked up…..