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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And where…will the sevco con-men trial be held.
Now…no laughing at the back there:)
Seriously,…you could not make it up.
And the daft hun fans cry….we are the victims here, and we will be suing the SFA.
Gets dafter by the day.
And still they laugh.
I wonder why eh.
HH
https://johnjamessite.wordpress.com/
Apologies if posted before
There are those who believe that the criminal trial against the ‘Switcheroo Six’ will in some assist in their demands for title stripping.There are some who believe that the facts behind Resolution 12 will be laid out in court. There are those who believe that ‘article gymnastics’ by the SFA for the benefit of Rangers will be subject to further scrutiny. Those following the criminal case with these objectives in mind will be disappointed. They will also be disappointed that Charles Green’s aide-de-camp, Imran Ahmad, continues to evade Police Scotland with impunity. What will be disclosed is how white collar criminals can use a football club to their advantage. Those who have inquired what’s in it for career criminal Dave King should pay close attention to proceedings.
Keen SFA watchers will be interested to note that Craig Whyte is accused perpetrating a fraud against the SFA by not disclosing his previous bar on being a company director in his”fit and proper”submissions. Technically if he gained a pecuniary advantage through deception it is fraud. The fact that the SFA makes it easy for anyone to be a director of Rangers, will be a line explored by Whyte’s counsel. Declaring that you are willing to abide by the articles of association is hardly an acid test, particularly when the SFA can ignore these at their discretion. The tribunal hearing where Whyte was fined by the SFA was ignored by him as they can only impose fines on those engaged in football activities. They have no influence outwith the confines of what is best described as a golf club. The SFA golf club runs a medals tournament, The Scottish Cup, and appoints marshals. They also take advantage of five star travel arrangement following the international ‘golfers’ as they fail to qualify overseas. They even force players to check out from their hotel early and sit around in an airport all night as the SFA executives take a nap in their five star hotel suites and order room service. The players had a choice of Burger King or hunger. Scotland will not be playing at the Euros in the summer, but you can be assured that extra-leg-room Regan will be there.
The preliminary hearings have resumed. Live tweeting from court has not been allowed so those following James Doleman’s twitter feed will have to await court recesses for an update. What we do know is that the charges against Craig Whyte have increased from eight to fifteen, with three of these in regard to his refusal to disclose the password to a laptop computer and two mobile phones to the police, despite being served by police with a notice to do so. Which leads us into an interesting legal debate.
There is a famous court precedent in regard to a breach of the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which requires disclosure in the interests of national security, for the purposes of detecting or preventing crime or in furtherance of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom. The individual in question was sentenced to six months in prison, on a tariff that could have resulted in 2-5 years imprisonment.
Craig Whyte is not a terrorist. His alleged malfeasance at Rangers does not impact our national security. It will be interesting to note on what basis Lord Bannatyne, who is presiding, can consider ordering Whyte to disclose these passwords. It is my guess that he will be charged with obstructing a police investigation and hence perverting the course of justice. On balance, I posit that he will accept this as a slap on the wrist is preferable to a lengthy prison sentence.
Craig Whyte is accused of fraudulently obtaining a total of £28,262,094 from Ticketus and Merchant Capital. We know that Craig Whyte was ordered in a civil trial to repay £17.2m to Ticketus, and that he was struck off from being a director in an action raised in the name of Vince Cable. When he applied for funds it was rather remiss of him not to mention a previous seven year ban The more interesting question was how he convince Ticketus to loan him £17.2m when the maximum they had previously loaned to David Murray was £5m. It will be of even more interest to discover which assets were secured against the loan for £11m and change from Merchant Capital. David Grier, who became a director at Rangers, is accused of conspiring with Whyte to fraudulently invoice £409,320 to Rangers for services he carried out for Liberty Capital.The latter company is owned by Whyte and is registered in The British Virgin Islands, which is one of the ‘tax efficiency’ territories favoured by our tax evading current chairman. It would not be too much of a stretch to suggest that Whyte and King are cut from the same cloth.
A new indictment accuses Charles Green of taking over £200k from Rangers Youth Development Ltd to help “Sevco” purchase the Club’s assets. This specific charge has never been disclosed before. It will be interesting to hear how his defence counsel will counter this charge.
Charles Green is also accused of raising £21 million “by fraud” during the Rangers IPO to the stock market.According to the indictment Charles Green is also accused of fraudulently obtaining the sum of £5,500,000 to purchase the “assets of the club.” The latter term is going to be repeated ad infinitum. Derek Johnstone, the president of the Rangers Flat Earth Society, which convenes most evenings at Radio Clyde, will no doubt not be taken to task on his Rangers then, Rangers now, Rangers forever mantra.
Green is also accused of “defrauding” investors of Rangers International Football Club and “Sevco 5088 ltd.” The latter charge is what Green described as the switcheroo. There must be something in the water cooler at Ibrox which encourages bombast of this nature. Admitting a crime in public, to deflect from all the other crimes he was allegedly perpetrating, is so self-incriminating that it beggars belief. In this indictment it is alleged that Craig Whyte repaid Charles Green the £25,000 in legal fees it cost to acquire Sevco 5088. This is the smoking gun of the switcheroo allegations. However, of even more significance is that proof of this will show the collusion of Green and Whyte in a conspiracy to acquire the assets as ‘distressed’ and not at their fair book value , as was later specified in the IPO document.
I can understand his decision to appeal the decision on his litigation costs. If he loses that appeal, the auctioneers gavel on his French Chateau will fall before any gavel by Lord Bannatyne
BMCUWP
Hope its a joke mate , but knowing the SFA its probably true .
That’s what happens when you don’t confront the corruption .
The Not Proven verdict in Scottish Law.
Is interesting:)
HH
Afternoon all.
HH
The thing is Whyte and Green are not masons, ergo they are the fall guys, if they where brothers there would be no trial, like Sir David they would be sitting pretty, justice of some sort will be done to them, but it won’t be hard time trust me, don’t forget they know where the bodies are, a slap on the wrist and a boot up the arse is all that will happen, the deals already been cut in this card game, and both of them have the Aces up there sleeves, it’s a no brainier, nothing to get exited about.
Just watched the Sky SPFL package, they didn’t show the Cifti “penalty” incident. Unbelievable.
Hail! Hail!
http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/are-foriegn-clubs-trying-to-tap-james-forrest/
Here’s an unusual one …
A wee Fields Exclusive. A bizarre one.
Does anyone have a link to the full list of charges? Interested in particular to know the charges on the D&P 3.
From reading James Doleman’s updates today I can see that Green has new charges of defrauding the IPO investors, and notably also defrauding Sevco 5088.
Is the Oldco to 5088 being challenged anywhere? I haven’t seen it. That would be fascinating if not challenged, the assets potentially reverting to 5088 putting Worthington/Law Financial firmly back in the picture as potentially rightful owners of the assets having acquired 5088. If that was the case then, well, Wow.
PAUL 67
Sevco Scotland Ltd, actually bought the basket of assets.
I think you missed out the word ‘case’.
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 6m6 minutes ago
Another part of the indictment states Charles Green paid £200k for right to buy RFC, Craig Whyte then refunded him £137,500 via Ahmed’s mum.
They’re gonna get away with it arent they -))))
Pau67
The High Court
High Court First Instance – Rolls of Court
Edinburgh HC
Case Session Date Proceedings Case Reference PF Reference Court Name
HMA v Sheik AHMAD 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
HMA v Paul CLARK 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
HMA v Charles GREEN 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
HMA v David GRIER 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
HMA v David WHITEHOUSE 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
HMA v Craig WHYTE 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
HMA v Gary WITHEY 05-JAN-16 Criminal Preliminary Hearing SCS/2015-152941 CO14000356 Edinburgh HC
“According to the indictment Charles Green is also accused of fraudulently obtaining the sum of £5,500,000 to purchase the “assets of the club”
The most interesting part surely?
If proven, then by default they are no longer able to claim the “same club” label? Yes? No?
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 1m1 minute ago
Indictment states Whyte received £24,337,094 from Ticketus then repaid Bank of Scotland £18,453,263.72 owed by RFC to the bank.
James Doleman @jamesdoleman 5m5 minutes ago
Indictment states that Craig White took £1m from Merchant partly as “show and tell money” during purchase of RFC.
tonydonnelly67 on 5th January 2016 1:56 pm
Tony, do you know for a fact (that damn word again) the Green and Whyte are not pot and basins?
If so how do you know?
For all I know you might be one yourself.
I would like to see Chuckles expose Ray gun and the Donkey for their total ineptitude in all things Sevco, along with Ogilvie etal. The corruption and cover ups that have been going on in the SPL and SFA is beyond ridiculous. They are all part of this fraud known as Sevco.
In the final scene will the Sevco support get the justice they hope for (whatever that is), will they realize that they were all taken in by the Whyte Knight and his wealth off the radar or will they finally see the dismantling of the big house by a Yorkshire Puddin’
Stay tuned
HH
gsu
How many white collar crime convictions actually end up in jail sentences?
quonno on 5th January 2016 2:28 pm:
If they are, it’ll all come out in the wash ….
(I know, I’ll get my coat …)
Paul, as this is a popular public forum operated by your good self from within Scotland it is subject to our own Contempt of Court laws.
These bar any discussion of a case or defendants and limit publication to what has transpired in court, such as the publication of charges and witness statements.
This is a truly fascinating and historic case which has been many years in the making, right back to when I was one of the first contributors to this forum in the days when Murray’s Rangers had loadsamoney and my predictions of their imminent woe were scoffed at by even Celtic fans.
However, now is a time to be patient and let proceedings take their course.
Perhaps a friendly lawyer could offer some advice as to the wisdom of allowing posters to publish opinions on this ongoing case that could get you (not them!) into bother.
I’m a massive fan of this forum but right now is, I’m afraid, a time to ca’ canny.
TD have you thought of taking, what I am sure are bona fide “facts” to the appropriate authorities? I’m sure they would be extremely interested. Or perhaps is this your opinion? I think we should be told. H H Hebcelt
Timely comment Johnbhoy, hope you are well and still kicking a ba’ (and the opposition if memory serves me :-) )
JohnBhoy on 5th January 2016 2:32 pm
You have got it in one.
It is time for Celtic folk to concentrate on Celtic issues.
hebcelt on 5th January 2016 2:32 pm
You cannot be serious. Looking for a straight answer from Tony.
BlantyreKev I agree timely comment indeed
JOHNBHOY on 5TH JANUARY 2016 2:32 PM
Can you use the current thread to highlight who is pushing the envelope for educational purposes.
Thanks
HH
Quonno one can only ask!!! H H Hebcelt
This is tweets from Charles Slavery so i won’t be getting excited about this up and coming trial.
Where has SDM gone in all of this.
He started it. He negotiated all the deals. He entered in to these agreements. Where is he in the crown list.
The people walking into court? Gies peace.
The crown has the evidence to prosecute SDM but is unwilling to do so why? He connects all these threads.
One man arranged this where is he on the charge sheet?
How can the prosecution put a case without him.
One man decided this would be a good idea. One man decided he could save money.
Why did you all forget about the guy ? Because that’s how they wanted it to play out. They have you the bad guys. You bought it.
Time is a great healer and a great way to hide facts. A campaign of smoke and mirrors has left you all blinded. One guilty party SDM.
This is a clear breach of democracy as we know it in this country a deal has been done.
That deal goes against every tenet of scots law.
SDM has a hotline to all the sports editors in Scotland. Mostly, they take his quote, as they should. Some just take his coin.
If SDM is a witness. Does crown have phone records. KJ and JT.
Remember this SDM that is all.
The nexus between RFC, SDM and the MSM is now so blatant it should be tackled by FIFA at best UEFA. See the problem ? and our kids suffer.
You’re getting a SHOW trial not a real trial.
SDM as a witness is a mockery of democracy. He should be in the dock as the architect.
Here’s the point. SDM is got away, and is getting away because of a nexus of power you have no control over. Editors, prosecutors, judges.
Beware of SDM. This trial is not about the people on trial. It is an attempt to seal a chapter. Realise that.
The whole pantomime has been to protect SDM. The judiciary is now accepting this farce.
Remember SDM is a 32nd Mason.
https://johnjamessite.wordpress.com/
The Conditional Loan
If our best source on matters apropos to Sports Direct is correct, our career criminal chairman attempted to repay the £5m loan on the basis that Mr Ashley withdrew from his litigation against King and the SFA’s decision to pass King as ‘fit and proper.’ Mr Ashley is unsurprisingly not minded to accept Mr King’s conditions. The jumped-up Transvaal spiv thought he could use the money that he raised from others to dictate terms to Ashley. He was disabused of this notion today.
This will not play well for Mr King when he returns to the Royal Courts of Justice on the 18th January in the year of the gavel. Justice Smith, who to all intents and purposes appeared to be wearing a Rangers strip under his robes as he bared a knee and nipple to masonic induction, will not take kindly to counsel for King lying on his instructions in court.
The SFA, who will give evidence at Edinburgh High Court in regard to Craig Whyte’s credentials as to his fit and proper status, will now have to justify their decision to approve King. The trial on April 28 (in the year of the gavel) is the one that I most look forward to. Of course Mr Easdale may raise a motion to have all directors at RIFC suspended for illegal stripping stakeholders of their right to vote. Nothing would please me more than hearing Regan defend his actions in regard to a suspended director.
Should King and his board have a spare £5m sitting in an Anderson Strathern escrow account, might I make a novel suggestion? Why not spend it on the team? Free transfers of unknown players in England and Poland on five month contracts do not bode well for the future. What better way to deflect your £30m lie on investment than by spending £5m on the team.
Of course there is the distinct possibility that the money was nor raised and the conditions were so onerous that the refusal was anticipated. I’m sure it can be spun as an ‘honest’ Dave narrative to the SFA and the supporters. However with King you can always tell that he’s lying when he moves his lips.
Charles Green have been charged with conspiracy and involvement in serious organised crime.
David Whitehouse, from administrators Duff and Phelps, faces the same charges while Mr Green, 62, is also accused of fraud.
An angry crowd of fans shouted abuse as police escorted them from Glasgow Sheriff Court.
All three have been granted bail to return to court at a later date.
The three men were arrested on Tuesday after a police investigation into the sale of Rangers assets in 2012.
Another accountant, 51-year-old Paul Clark, who ran the club while it was in administration, has also been arrested.
Former Rangers owner Craig Whyte and ex-chief executive Charles Green have been charged with conspiracy and involvement in serious organised crime.
David Whitehouse, from administrators Duff and Phelps, faces the same charges while Mr Green, 62, is also accused of fraud.
An angry crowd of fans shouted abuse as police escorted them from Glasgow Sheriff Court.
All three have been granted bail to return to court at a later date.
The three men were arrested on Tuesday after a police investigation into the sale of Rangers assets in 2012.
Another accountant, 51-year-old Paul Clark, who ran the club while it was in administration, has also been arrested.
Rangers was sold to Craig Whyte by its former owner Sir David Murray in 2011 for a nominal sum of £1.
But it entered administration in February 2012 after running out of cash.
Mr Whitehouse, 50, who worked at Duff and Phelps, was appointed as joint administrator, along with colleague Mr Clark.
When an agreement with creditors could not be struck to allow the club to exit administration, a sale of Rangers’ assets to a consortium led by Mr Green was concluded.
He was at the helm when Rangers were allowed to join the Third Division but stepped down in 2013 following allegations that he was working in conjunction with Mr Whyte, 44.
Charles Green was shielded by police officers when he left by the front door of the court at around 15:30 BST on Wednesday.
A group of around 20 supporters shouted and tried to jostle the former Sheffield United chief executive.
Mr Whitehouse left the court to equally angry scenes around 20 minutes later.
Craig Whyte, 44, then made his exit just before 19:00 and was met by another angry crowd.
The trio have been charged under Section 28 of the Criminal Justice Licensing Act 2010, which covers serious organised crime offences. They have also been charged with conspiracy.
In addition Mr Green has been charged with fraud and also an offence under Section 190 of the Companies Act 2006.
They made no plea or declaration.
The only ” fact ” is the deliberately manufactured fabulous mess ..Intriguing that the SFA seem to have been able to differentiate the rubbish..Maybe they could explain how they managed to do it.
.
As someone pointed out. Let the courts sort it out.no need for any celtic fan making comments about you know who.which could be used by there lawyers. Best thing Paul can do is to delete all things being said about you know who.and that includes Phil Mcgob who in my opinion makes things about you know who.
They are not masons, if they where this wouldent be where it is now, I’v been involved with masons in a stonewall home run theft, they look after there own trust me, it would frighten the s…. Out of you when you see how they operate, I kid you not, like the LNS case, they don’t care, they line there ducks up, and circle the wagons, and as for thinking I’m one? Well the least said about that the better I think.
King will probably do a runner with the £5 mil Ashley has just refused…..allegedly….
Getting back to matters Celtic, given our non participation in Europe and the near certainty that we’ll win the League again how much money will be available to RD this window ? If they intend sticking with Ronnie then now is the time to let him buy, but he’s not got a great track record were transfers are concerned and I cant see him being afforded an open cheque book. We badly need a no nonsense centre half and probably an experienced goalscorer. A bad injury to Griff (or a slump in form) and we’re in trouble. Despite his many detractors I’d have Hooper back , technically the best striker we’ve had for years. We also have to look ahead at the goalkeeping position, Gordon’s done ok but won’t last for too much longer, need to give our other goallies an opportunity at some point.
HH
Aw Naw,
That JohnJames fella seems happy to pass comment on these events without fear of litigation (although if he is based in the UK, his confidence may be misplaced). Copying and pasting his comments in full on here does Paul no favours, in my opinion.
Charles Lavery, a former Sunday Mail journalist, is now based in Asia, so he can Tweet what he likes. Again, it is not always advisable to repeat his conjecture on here in full.
Those involved in this case will be looking for excuses to claim it is impossible for them to face a fair trial, given what has been published online (although it is highly unlikely any of this would influence a jury).
However, at some point a judge may look to make an example of someone.
Kerrydalestreet, which has a couple of lawyers within its ranks, is very careful about this sort of thing.
Blantyrekev, I’m still trying to put the boot in, but these days I’m too slow to catch the man, never mind the ball.
JohnBhoy may well be right so it makes sense to give the court cases a wide berth for the moment.
What about Stranraer? Do we go with our strongest team ( whatever that is) to help find cohesion or do we go with some youngsters? Do we have a back up right back?
JJ