The report on Rangers on tonight’s Channel 4 News by Alex Thomson put meat on the bones of what has been going on at Rangers over the last decade or more. Former chief executive, Martin Bain, was revealed to have written to then-chairman, John McClelland, in late 2003 asking that his pay rise is paid through the club’s Employee Benefit Trust, which is not subject to Income Tax or National Insurance.
Bain goes on to make a sinister note to McClelland, “at the end of the meeting I gave her back the letter addressed to me from you that stated my contractual increase for her to shred.”
Shredding documents? Oh dear.
Bain declined to answer questions from Channel 4 but yesterday offered to drop his contractual claim against the club, suggesting his issue was with Rangers new owner, Craig Whyte. It was the most self-serving drivel I have read in a while.
If this was how he behaved as Rangers chief executive Whyte was right to suspend him last year. How Bain had the front to pursue Rangers for over £1m knowing the consequences of his letters to John McClelland beggars belief.
I wonder how HMRC view instructions to shred documents that could inform a view on a tax claim? These documents prove Rangers directors knew how EBTs worked, understood what they were doing and the consequences.
Paul Baxendale-Walker walked straight out of a Carry On movie to give a great cameo performance. In a couple of years some poor casting director is going to have to try to find actors to play Baxendale-Walker, Whyte, Bain, Paul Murray and Zsa Zsa himself. Could any actors do justice to these bizarre individuals?
I’d be interested in your suggestions. Zsa Zsa for Sir David is a given.
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Celticbhoy
RTC says something different…
Annoyingly, an old myth has been repeated by some posters: “tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance is legal”. Another one is that Rangers have not been accused of tax evasion- ergo they have not done anything illegal. This is absolute rubbish on both counts.
http://rangerstaxcase.com/2012/03/31/evading-avoidance/
Mullet and Co on 31 March, 2012 at 09:00 said:
What is evident to all (or should be) is that not one of the individual’s gaining selfish financial benefit from the tax scam gave a flying fart for rfcia …. I find that very amusing, interesting and revealing ……..Hail Hail
Paul McC
odd question maybe but
was just wondering if you’ve been getting any “pelters” off the other guys ?
Does what went on in the Ipox boardroom amount to a conspiracy to commit fraud?
”a dishonest agreement by two or more persons to defraud another by deceiving him or her into acting contrary to his or her duty.”
macjay 5.55 wowser
‘a decade of cultural arrogance’ brilliant
Mick on 31 March, 2012 at 09:11 said:
sorry Mick made it up…..
Hopefully we can get back to winning ways tomorrow, and give Lenny a wee bit of confort after what he’s been through and is still going through!
I doubt we will get our flag back this weekend as the Haircut won’t allow his players to put in a tackle today.
Under McCall in the SPL against Rangers.
6-0
0-5
0-3
3-0
Rangers 17 – 0 Motherwell!
With the Hun already out of Europe next year, they don’t even need to finish second in the league to qualify for the CL.
It would be brilliant if Dundee Unt overtook them in the remaining games.
Whatever, we’ll have a party this weekend, next weekend, and the one after that, and…
Hail Hail
Casting for the B movie..THE HUNS
John McClelland…Alfred Hitchcock
Craig Whyte…..Marty Feldman
John Grieg….Alfred E Newman
Paul Baxendale Walker…..George Cole
Ally………McCauley Culkin
Gordon Smudger Smith….Stanley Unwin
Walter……..Val Doonican
Jimmy Bell aka the Bigot (kit man)….Wee Jimmy Krankie
Martin Bain….Sid James
Duff and Duffer…..Beavis and Butthead
Sir David Murray….Richard Nixon
James Traynor…..Jabba the Hutt
Hugh Keevins…..Lord Haw Haw
Chic Young……Dave Hill (Slade)
Phil Mac and Paul 67…..Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman
hh
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Ally McCoist
Stanley Tucci – Martin Bain
Christopher Lee – David Murray
David Strathearn – Fergus McCann
Mike Myers – Michael Mols
(Robbie Coltrane – Mrs Mols)
macjay1 05.55- Thanks for posting that link, a very good read, one or two inaccuracies but by and large anything that gets ripped into them get’s my attention & vote!
Govan Storm RSC
Probably stated earlier but Lenny’s disnissal last week is hardly surprising. The previous week he spoke out against one of the brotherhood and I’m sure if Lenny had farted while speaking to the officials he would have been red carded.
From their point of view the dismissals, the charges coming in and the comments from the ex-ref are all an attempt to put Lenny in “his place”. I think they would happily run him out of the game and feel that it’s only part of their job.
Last year, they lost 2 of their pals and they’ll still be hurting. They believe they are higher up the scottish football food chain and we can clearly see them flexing their muscles at the moment.
I’ve beend checking out survival rates for stan’s leukaemia, it’s really variable, anybody what exact type he has.
ernie lynch on 31 March, 2012 at 09:16 said:
Does what went on in the Ipox boardroom amount to a conspiracy to commit fraud?
——-
Surely it must:
“at the end of the meeting I gave her back the letter addressed to me from you that stated my contractual increase for her to shred.”
Why else instruct someone to shred a document and confirm to to it’s author that you have instructed its shredding?
Why are police officers not being instructed to identify and interview the person referred to as “her”?
New claims in Ibrox tax case raise further questions
By JOHN MCGARRY
The Rangers ‘double-contracts’ saga took another twist on Friday night when details emerged purporting to back the view that payments made into offshore accounts were simply disguised wages.
Channel 4 News alleged that former Ibrox chief executive Martin Bain asked for a contractual pay rise to be paid to him through the Employee Benefit Trust scheme, rather than through the standard PAYE system.
The programme claimed to have seen documents from the club and quoted a letter Bain wrote to former Ibrox chairman John McClelland in 2003.
In it, the broadcaster alleged, Bain admitted the practice of paying players and employees through the scheme was widespread.
In a further development, Channel 4 News received confirmation from Murray International Holdings finance chief Mike McGill that not a penny of any ‘loans’ made to employees through the EBT scheme had ever been repaid.
Asked when or if any of the loans would ever be repaid, McGill said: ‘We do not consider it appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture.’
The most damning allegation centred around Bain, however, and appeared to back the view of former director Hugh Adam that payments into offshore trusts was simply a way of avoiding paying tax on wages.
The Channel 4 News report claimed it had been suggested to Bain that any pay rise he got would be paid through an EBT.
He allegedly wrote to McClelland on December 18, 2003, saying: ‘Any pay rise I get should be paid through the trust obviously as a discretionary bonus, as it cannot be contractual.
‘My increase was to be non-contractual put through as a discretionary bonus as I do with players, coaches and, more recently, John Greig.’
The programme further alleged that Bain was offered £100,000 in a bonus from the trust in 2005, then later that year requested a further loan of £100,000 ‘as soon as possible for purposes of investment’.
The allegations concurred with Adam’s belief, reported in Sportsmail last month, that monies paid into offshore trusts were part and parcel of players’ packages and, as such, should have been included in contracts lodged with the SFA and the SPL.
In the wake of Adam’s allegations, both bodies announced inquiries into alleged breaches of registration rules.
However, the SFA have put their probe on ice as they would be the appeal body for any SPL decision.
Sir David Murray has insisted the club had done nothing wrong as payments into EBTs were ‘discretionary’.
The issue of whether EBTs were discretionary or not is the basis of the so-called ‘big-tax case’ – the outcome of which is expected soon.
If the Tier-One Tribunal finds in favour of HMRC, Rangers could face a bill of around £49million.
Daily Mail
macjay1 for Neil Lennon on 31 March, 2012 at 05:55 said:
OZZIE TIMS
Don`t miss this.
And thanks to:
celticdonnelly on 31 March, 2012 at 04:09 said:
Found a decent article about the Huns going bust in this new Australian based Sports/Pop Culture website called The Flack. Nice to see exiled Tims exposing the huns to the world and spreading the truth about the unacceptable behaviour of them for the past 140 years. Think the writer is a mad Tim going by his other columns, have a read…
http://the-flack.com/2012/03/the-end-of-a-scottish-institution
Lads,
It seems credit is coming my way for reposting the work of :
celticdonnelly on 31 March, 2012 at 04:09 said:etc.etc.
The credit is his.
Hardly a thundering editorial in today’s Herald.
They sort of concluded that sending bombs through the post was a bad thing that should be punished.
Good article by John McGarry, who continues to redeem himself and his paper…
In 3 weeks Alex Thomson has shed more light on this story than the Record, Sun, Herald, Scotsman, BBC (Sports Dept) and (RFC Media Partner) STV have managed in 3 years.
Everyone who works for any of these organisations should be seriously considering an alternative career this morning.
Can’t help feeling that if HMRC have a few more bits of paper to back up what Bain says, then it really is curtains for RFC.
Hello all.
Managed one brief look in in about 3 days yesterday evening before this article was posted.
We’ve been busy! Alex Thompson has been busy!!
Promises of more to come from RTC. More to come from C4 as well?
Haven’t had time to look at the C4 footage. Off line most of today and tomorrow as well so I’ll be catching up hopefully after a title party on Sunday.
Today is a significant date in my calendar, and though I am not one to go in for these things usually, I have a feeling that Motherwell, having seen the writing on the wall will see a chance of their highest finish in years and may even want to be positioning themselves as the main also rans to Celtic next season.
Don’t be surprised to see a draw.
Away to buy a big fat cigar just in case.
Hail Hail and Pray for Stan Petrov and his family.
So only John McGarry running with the C4 story?
He is a bona fide good guy.
Clearly the rest of the poodles don’t want to go near it, making the same mistakes over and over again.
Wonder what wee Matt Lindsay of the ET has been spouting on twitter, he is the loudest anti-Tomo mouthpiece, making a complete and utter fool of himself, the very reincarnation of Daryll Broadfoot.
I have every confidence that Motherwell will get a result against the Orcs today….
PositivethinkingCSC
Ffs that’s sick he’s not a spreadsheet.
Che
;-)
funny thing is, it WAS believable
mick
which email account? so I can check it out..
Is it just me or does anyone think the sun headline today regarding bombers against Neil is a joke.
Hi blantyretim,
the AOL addy.
Will need to find various documents then I’ll mail you later if that’s ok.
De Boer says ” it wisnae me,mister.
But it might have been some other boays.”
So that`s him in the clear.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17570333
Morning Bhoys
ROCCOBHOY HAS 3 SPARE SEASON TKTS FOR TOMORROWS GAME AS THINGS STAND. SEASON TKTS ARE LOCATED IN NORTH STAND LOWER NEAR CORNER FLAG NEAR LISBON LIONS STAND. CONTACT ME ON 00353 83 310 9887. THATS MY IRISH MOBILE NUMBER.
HAIL HAIL
ROCCOBHOY
This genius on FF exposes clear bias on the part of BBC Scotland reporting:
“BBC Reporting Bias:Lennon ‘bomb’ trial decision
The BBC has always prided itself on it’s neutrality .
Its reporting of facts not dictating or using facts or imagery to lead with a particular agenda which would seriously question their much vaunted impartiality.Its whole credibility and reputation is founded on these fundamental principles. The following incident seriously questions those principles coming on top of the disgraceful and unethical McCoist stitch up .
I caught the BBC Scotland news bulletin at 8pm tonight on BBC1. It reported on the result of the Lennon ‘bomb’ trial case and the guilt of the two parties concerned.
What annoyed me was the split screen picture of the two guily parties.One guy was shown wearing a Rangers top ,the other character kitted out in an England top. Now given the undoubted opportunities for the BBC to get any number of pics of the guilty parties ,why did they carefully select for viewing these particular pics with the Rangers related connection?
If,for example, a devout Roman Catholic was finally caught in a murder case and the outcome of court case was reported ,would they show pictures of the Vatican or the Pope as part of the news item about the sentencing of the killer.You can take it as read that they would not…or be castigated unmercifully for doing so.”
Can someone remind me of the context in which these parcel bombs were sent? I’ve forgotten.
The reason the Scottish hacks won’t comment on the content of last night’s C4 programme is because they are complicit in all this.
For the same reason the SFA won’t hand out appropriate punishment to RFC(IA), they are complicit in all this.
The dominoes have started to fall, and the complicit partners will all topple soon enough.
Paul 67
The picture that is emerging is one where a bunch of greedy muppets acted disgracefully because they thought they would never be caught by the tax authorities and if they did ‘the usual channels’ would see them alright.
I suspect that both the SPL and SFA rules may be flaky and open to challenge / interpretation , therefore to be sure of their ground both bodies need the FTT result with the supporting evidence , in order to prosecute to the maximum.
Looks to me as though Dignity will hang on and complete the fixtures this season , with the FTT reporting around 11 April , which gives Dignity 25 days to make noises about appealing. The takeover will be strung out by D&D to early May and then the plug will be pulled.
SPL and SFA will then at their leisure remove titles and cups during the summer and the weight of evidence will require the SFA to review goings on at Ipox back to 1988.
FUBARcfc
Lovely sunny day ——Springtime , way down south.
Lovely ——- looks like those EBTs were nothing more than disguised remuneration schemes. Looks like Hector can prove that those EBTs were administered wrongly.
Numb nut greed , hubris and stupidity led to them screw themselves. You can’t eat your cake and keep it. Best not to send each other Emails when you are arranging a wee bit of tax evasion.. They could have easily made it look as though the loans had been paid back but it looks like their numb nut stupid, hubristic mindset didn’t bother to even attempt to cover their ass.
Stupid, stupid Huns.
Off to Catania for tonight’s game v AC Milan. 6 PM Kickoff. Sea Urchin Linguine afterwards [ and the best ice cream in the world ]
La Dolce Vita -way down south
…meant to say…
Hat’s off to Mr O.G Rafferty for his genuine scoop on the CH 4 thang.
We heard it here first, indeed.
Thanks O.G.
(Looks like the local ‘talent’ aren’t even prepared to comment on it……Shameful)
Moonbeams WD. Kano 1000 \o/ Supporting Neil Lennon 100%. Eating Jelly & Ice Cream. Awe Naw… on 31 March, 2012 at 08:50 said:
“my increase was to be non-contractual put through as a discretionary bonus…”
Now if that’s a smoking gun the remainder of the quote is a Howitzer.
“…as I do with PLAYERS, COACHES and more recently JOHN GREIG.”
Thanks MWD
Just knew all the Huns had their fingers in the till and were briefed by MIH etc to shred or hide any info on ebt’s.
Jam67
Did Chic Nic say something daft lately??
I see the ‘Blue Order’ behaved according to their nature during a meeting with Stewart Regan. Regan left the meeting in disgust.
Dark Mingwall said they had asked him what they had done to help Rangers (IA) during administration. I wonder if Regan answered ‘It’s precisely because we have been helping you for the last 140 years that you are in this sh1te’………
Dingwall also claimed that he was late home to his mammy because of the meeting and is now grounded for a month and that it is al the BBC, C4, the SFA, the Vatican and Catholic Schools fault.
alex thomson @alextomo
Just for the record – STV and D Mail were in touch abt the report – no other calls from Scottish media. Lamb still on the menu?
Via twitter
Macjay1 brilliant link to the Aus blog, you’re the mhan!
V
EKBhoy on 31 March, 2012 at 10:09 said:
Paul 67
The picture that is emerging is one where a bunch of greedy muppets acted disgracefully because they thought they would never be caught by the tax authorities and if they did ‘the usual channels’ would see them alright.
I suspect that both the SPL and SFA rules may be flaky and open to challenge / interpretation , therefore to be sure of their ground both bodies need the FTT result with the supporting evidence , in order to prosecute to the maximum.
Looks to me as though Dignity will hang on and complete the fixtures this season , with the FTT reporting around 11 April , which gives Dignity 25 days to make noises about appealing. The takeover will be strung out by D&D to early May and then the plug will be pulled.
SPL and SFA will then at their leisure remove titles and cups during the summer and the weight of evidence will require the SFA to review goings on at Ipox back to 1988.
FUBARcfc
——————————————
I’m liking that.
And on that very happy note I am offski for a well earned day of rest, time with Mrs Tressell and a few shandies. Next time I’m on I hope to start with the word ‘Championees!’
It’s been a hell of a year for me and mine. Celtic are the refuge I run to when life gets too much. Never take it too seriously fholks, but never take us too lightly either. It is truly a thing of wonder to be a part of the Celtic Family.
Hail Hail.
Hi sixtaeseven 10.07,
It wouldn`t be easy to report on this. For some it would be like writing about their own family. :-) We need Montalbano on the case.
Have a great weekend!
South of Tunis, buon divertimento!