Today’s pre-trial hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court against Charles Green, Craig Whyte and others involved in the business of Newco Rangers brings the state of the football club into stark focus.
Charles Green is accused of raising £21m for Newco Rangers by fraud via their December 2012 IPO. He is also accused of defrauding Sevco 5088 Ltd, the company who were awarded the right to buy the assets of liquidated oldco by administrators’ Duff and Phelps.
Craig Whyte maintained that he, or his associates, had a controlling interest in Sevco 5088 Ltd, and produced a famous recording allegedly featuring Green tell him “You are Sevco”. Although Duff and Phelps contracted to sell to Sevco 5088, another company, Sevco Scotland Ltd, actually bought the basket of assets.
Sevco Scotland was controlled by Charles Green or his associates. The company was renamed to The Rangers Football Club Ltd and is now a football club, sitting top of the Scottish Championship.
While in charge of Newco Rangers, Green’s PR issued a number of confusing statements around Sevco 5088, insisting both that he made certain arrangements with Whyte which he had no intention of honouring, and that he was entitled to switch the beneficiary of the Rangers liquidation Sale and Purchase agreement to Sevco Scotland Ltd. A move he claimed was to give the company a Scottish registration number.
The remainder of the various rap sheets tell grubby tales. Green is accused of fraudulently obtaining the £5.5m he used to acquire the assets of Rangers, and of using £200k from Rangers Youth Development Ltd to aid the purchase. Whyte is accused of defrauding Ticketus and Merchant Capital of £28m, and various other crimes and misdemeanours, but these issues are a side matter. The action regarding the future concerning football is with Charles Green.
Think back to his counsel’s words as he sought funding for his defence from Newco Rangers last month. The £21m IPO money and those assets purchased by Sevco Scotland were ploughed into the club now sitting at the top of the Championship. Should these charged be upheld, the assets would be proceeds of crime.
Green was allowed to issue unfathomable edicts as a desperate PR campaign blamed others for bizarre conspiracies. This was enough for an already-compliant media and he played to the gallery magnificently. Supporters lapped it up.
Under pressure to provide the stock market with a clean bill of health, the club went to the Masons for a report in April 2013, Pinsent Masons, who in conjunction with auditors, Deloitte, found none of the alleged links between Green and Whyte surrounding the asset sale and setting up of Newco. I understand the investigation heard no testimony from Craig Whyte, so found no evidence of anything inappropriate.
All of this provided temporary respite on the park and in the Scottish media but the ultimate Day of Reckoning was never going to be affected by PR. Should charges against Green be upheld, the only unfathomable consideration will be what future a football club with no legally acquired assets has.
There is a chance that all the dominoes will fall in Newco’s favour. That all charges are unsuccessful, that Mike Ashley relinquishes control of all contracts and that investment will be found to meet medium-term cash requirements. It is also possible that one or more of these dominoes will remain standing, and that nothing will ever be the same again.
Best of luck to all parties. I wonder when the penny will drop with those recently rooting for Green to be put away of the consequences……
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hello
itscalledthesoutherngeneral
Celtic linked with defender Aleksandar Pantic. I can confirm that my extensive scouting has revealed that his You Tube video is….from 2 years ago….
First time in the top three ! Progress
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS & KEVJUNGLE (on previous thread)…
I would suggest that were Celtic to offer (not that they’d ever be able to) £100M for Lionel Messi, £30M for Phil Jagielka, or £5M for Ikechi Anya, and in each case offer to match their current wages, none of those players would want to come to play in the SPL. And even if Celtic were guaranteed CL group stage participation every season, I still don’t think those players would come to Celtic Park.
Regardless of Celtic’s budget, the only way we will attract top level players is to be playing in a bigger and better league, where those players will have the opportunity to play quality opposition on an almost weekly basis, rather than (probably) six times per season.
Nothing Peter Lawwell does will change this, unless he gets us out of the Scottish League.
Good Afternoon.
Interesting news from the Court of Session this morning. About which I will not be writing in any detail! [Live proceedings!]
Meanwhile here are the two latest blogs.
One about Mark Warburton being given a platform to talk about what would be good for our game.
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/the-minister-for-pisheries/
And another about how ‘Armageddon’ *finally* came to an end.
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/01/03/47-reasons-why-armageddon-is-over/
Enjoy the rest of the day.
For every penny that drops they’ll drop another five
HH
itscalledthemalvinas on 5th January 2016 12:47 pm
My 4th podium …….i need to get on with some work i suppose
itscalledthemalvinas, you may be second, but your post was not entertaining enough, nor was that of MMHOME, who is first. You should both sack your managers immediately and replace them with one who is so well regarded that he has either been out of work for months or has just been sacked for not meeting the expectations of his (last) employer.
I would prefer Newclub to Newco myself Paul.
That’s the prosecution laid its cards on the table. I wonder if the Defence will implicate the SFA/SPFL as supporters of the alleged fraudulent acts?
BAWSMAN
I wouldnt hold my breath
HH
BigChipsUK – 10 in a row (2001-2010) on 5th January 2016 12:51 pm
Am on it….do you have any suggestions for a replacement ;-)
Here is a scenario to think about.
If it is deemed the assets were acquired by fraud then surely they would go back to the liquidators and then resold for the “correct” value and the money goes to HMRC and the other creditors od the Oldco. Now, if that happens,would MA then make the highest offer to take control of the club comletely and shove Mr King and his cohorts out the door as they wouldnt be able to raise the £20 million to buy the club would they.
Think the Rangers fans should be hoping nothing bad comes out of this as the consequences could be catastrophic for them.
BigChipsUK – 10 in a row (2001-2010)
No, no, no. They both need to sack their boards ;)
MMHOME, you could do worse than itscalledthemalvinas … just. Mourinho (sacked) or Benitez (sacked) might be up for a challenge.
BIGCHIPS
I would suggest you are right.
I would also suggest that had we had the balls to invest rather than cut,nights like,for instance,Bayern celebrating a 0-0 as though they had won the CL would have players of serious quality seriously considering us.
Now?
They know they won’t even meet us on the way down.
Davidopoulos on 5th January 2016 12:56 pm
Sack the board and replace my manager ? It would never catch on ;-)
Afternoon Celts
I wouldnt be too bothered by the sevco huns being on trial.
They will all be flashing distress signs to the judge, in the first two minutes of the trial.
And you do understand…by their twisted code, the judge is obliged to help them.
Jail…ha…They will be apologising to them for wasting their time.
Nothing to see hear…move along.
Handshakes all round.
Dont forget, those kind of people do what they like….end of story.
HH
The more the Hun shambles unravels ,the more complicit the SFA are,in their neglect of the scam. Some may call it fear….
BigChipsUK – 10 in a row (2001-2010) on 5th January 2016 12:56 pm
I might approach livybhoy, i like the “cut of his gib”….talks a lot of sense to me in his last catribution
HH
It’s a shame yon wee yellow ticker on Sky Sevco News is broken,anytime there is bad news down Govan way?
Livibhoy
Good to see you back posting common sense opinion in a clear non-belligerent manner.
Have missed your insightful perspective in the Roseburn Bar and Mrs Livibhoy stalking me in M&S ;-)
*Contribution
BADA BING
Im convinced, that you cannot lay a glove on any of them.
Even this high profile sevco con-man trial, wont do it.
Sevco will still trundle on….they dont even need money now, its all fiat money…doesnt exist.
The masonic powers that be, wont allow their vehicle for bigotry to vanish.
Masonic courts wont punish masons….simple as that.
Even if they do go to jail….the cheating will continue.
Who is going to stop them?
Not the Celtic PLC, thats for sure.
HH
Bigchips
There will be no board sacking this early in the day. I’m far too busy !
Message to clumpany if your
Still there
Why not call warbmeister
David Brent
After all he is
MMHOME
4th podium eh ?
I’m going to have to narrow the gap in the coming season
twentyfirstofmay1979 on 5th January 2016 12:53 pm
Patience mate. I have loved the last 4 years.
The SFA/SPFL head heid yins have fallen over themselves to keep ANY form of Rangers in the picture. Unfortunately for them, they have danced with MANY devils (and are still locked in a death spiral) hopefully we will see a new football world emerge which will be a credit to all decent, honest football folk.
God Bless Turnbull Hutton.
Only way forward is to dismiss all this court malarkey, forget what went on in the past and introduce a 16 team league immediately. At the end of the day only 10 of the 12 top clubs have reported an increase in attendance figures this season, the Scottish game is on it’s knees. There’s also a case to be made for how much we’ve all been missing the jovial banter that has been sadly lacking since the demise of the establishment team. God, I can’t wait for next season
HH
BAWSMAN
I admire your optimism, and obviously hope you are right
HH
Meanwhile over on Hunmedia its good news…..
my understanding is the club cannot face sanction for being the victim of a crime. Surely, in that case, it needs established that the initial transaction was fraudulent.
We must ensure, that at the end of these cases, that we are in position to sue the arse of the sfa for their raft of illegal sanctions.
Forgive me bhoys if im being a bit cynical.
However…nothing will change.
If they are allowed to continue cheating, then they will.
Thats their real entitlement…Let us cheat, or else.
Thats what they do.
So…if anybody is expecting any kind of justice from judges who like secrets….you havent been paying attention.
If you want to flick the pages of any British history book, id suggest you stop at the year 1701.
1701-2015….And its still going strong.
Signs and symbols….you only have to look.
HH
itscalledthemalvinas on 5th January 2016 1:14 pm
3 of them in the last 3 weeks as i have been at home, back on the road next week so good luck
HH
MMHOME
Cheers mate.
HH
Andrew Dallas to referee Stranraer v Celtic ( twitter)
Could be trouble ahead .
It’s January 5th and not one ‘starlet’ signed by Celtic
That other mob are showing us up.
Starlets are the new big thing
Sack the board
FOURGREENFIELDS
I mentioned earlier today that it wasn’t just the performance of the MIBs,but their appointment that was sticking two fingers up to us and daring us to do something.
That’s another example.
Bullied by a buncha neverwizneverwillbes. So much for our all-powerful board.
The Sevco/TRFC/RIFC issues are incredibly complex and raise myriad issues. Paul refers to dominos, but this is altogether more multi-dimensional, the resolutions to which simply cannot be predicted.
If you hear/read anyone tell you how it’s all going to play out and you believe them, then I’ve got $150 Million in a bank account in Lagos that I’d like to talk to you about.