HMRC have confirmed their actions today leave open “potential investigation and pursuit of possible claims against those responsible for the company’s financial affairs in recent years”.
Chances are, HMRC will investigate the actions of SFA president, Campbell Ogilvie, more thoroughly than the investigation carried out by the Association which allowed their chief executive, Stewart Regan, to tell the media that:
“We are all aware of businesses being run where you have one owner and operator running the club and a number of directors sitting below. The way this process has been managed, a lot of this correspondence was done much higher up the chain than Campbell Ogilvie.”
Stewart (if I can be familiar), you’re better than this. Try reading this story one page ahead, figure out where this one is going and start acting accordingly. Of course, President What-school-did-you-go-to then told Scotland on Sunday:
“I might have signed some documents from time to time”.
Mr Regan had better make sure he knows what Mr Ogilvie signed, and I recommend he doesn’t relay exclusively on Mr Ogilvie’s memory.
Untenable
“Those responsible for the company’s financial affairs in recent years” includes Mr Ogilvie throughout his period as a director of Rangers. His position has been untenable for months and his continuing presence at the top of the Scottish FA only further contaminates those who claim otherwise.
The former directors of Rangers will not be the only ones alarmed at this development, recipients of EBTs (including the directors, who will have a second matter to consider) have reason to be concerned.
Not only do Her Majesty’s officers want any potential wrongdoing investigated, they also want their money.
Rangers EBTs were a loan. HMRC will tell recipients of this loan that their side letters (you better believe they’ll all find those side letters now) are not worth the paper they’re written on. If the money was indeed a loan, a demand for repayment will be made. If this is disputed, you can expect to hear the phrase Gratuitous Alienation to enter the lexicon soon. Gratuitous Alienation is the Scots legal term describing when property (or cash) is transferred to another party without any, or adequate, consideration.
I hear HMRC have all their ducks lined up for this one.
Internecine strife doesn’t begin to describe how things will end up.
1,192 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 32
- »
Scud it into thum!
GingerElvis,
Brilliant!
I hear that Take That have renamed themselves The Beatles.
Important note in Alex Thompsons blog.
6. Despite the Green consortium’s lofty statements about buying the club’s assets, there is no guarantee that they will in fact be bought up as a job lot. There is no guarantee about simply playing on at Ibrox. There are, as thing
s stand, few guarantees in terms of the asset sale at all.
Could these be sold for Supermarkets and housing to the highest bidder and not as a 5.5M job lot to Green.
If Green gets the assets for £5.5m surely thats a stitch up with him and the admins???
Do HMRC get a stuffed Teddy Bear if they hit all the ducks?
I hope when HMRC start their investigation there are no skeletons in the cupboards to be found….
” So do I ” said Mr Dallas.
” Me to ” said Mr McCurry.
” Find what? ” said Mr McDonald.
No let up Paul?
Just Can’t Get Enough : )
No to newco
Paul67:
I first heard the word internecine at approx.16:40 from a knowledgable friend. He explained the principal of what it meant and the implications it could mean for RFC (IA) including possibly Campbell Ogilvie who is innocent until proven guilty…:)
The financial side of things have taken care of themselves. Now to the bigger story, which is the footballing one.
I predict that the SPL/SFA, sorry I will reword…SFA/SPL will have no option but to strip them of their titles and to kick them into touch.
1872-2012 RIP…
I smell liquid…
However, the story is not over not by a long chalk.
To quote Neil Francis Lennon…
This is not the end; this is just the beginning…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Everything up until now was known. The outcome was never in doubt. The facts were always available to show that all paths led to today, no matter what the chatter said.
From here on in it is uncharted waters.
The battle really begins today.
SSSB
SPECIAL SUPER SCOREBOARD!!!!!!!!
On Clyde after the news…
u
New Sponsor already in place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDrswoVjIck
Lovely Day!
Tattoo Removal shops could be the new Sunbed Shops.One on every corner.
This is surreal.
Alex Thomson
Today’s the day the taxman, in the shape of
HMRC, said not only will he not be walking
away from Rangers, but that they, the HMRC,
“are the people”. And the people not only
want their money back from this
catastrophically mismanaged “football
club”, but now they want to come after the
men who reduced the once proud name of
Ibrox to a pathetic byword for toxic
governance.
And that is the real story.
It is not often that you are on holiday and
find your plans are interrupted by the Voice
of the Taxman, and it is hardly ever anything
but bad news, I would imagine. But I have
to report barely concealed joy and
enthusiasm from my contact in HMRC who
once memorably told me, referring to
Rangers Football Club: “Remember our
Eleventh Commandment, Alex – Thou Shalt
Not Get Away With It.”
Not the kind of language HMRC regularly
employs, but Rangers was always going to
be big for them. Very big. An example. A
test case. A litmus test. Take your image,
but you get their drift.
So now it is all about a proper investigation.
Bluntly, a CVA (company voluntary
arrangement) would have allowed far too
much to be simply swept under the carpet.
Years of evidence, allegations, arguably an
entire Ibrox culture of funny money and
living beyond everyone’s means, can, as the
HMRC put it this morning “now be properly
investigated – and let me say there is no
way we could have done that under any
proposed CVA deal”.
When the CVA was proposed down at
Portsmouth FC, the taxman was promised
all kinds of phone number figures from any
amount of whacky offshore accounts etc and
guess what? Yes – they got a fraction of
nowt out of it, in the end.
They were not minded at all to go down the
same route this time.
In short, this is a warrant for the proper,
detailed, lengthy and forensic investigation
of just what David Murray, and to some
extent Craig Whyte, were doing at Rangers
and – yes – all those men who walked away
from the club they professed to cherish and
love and have run from any serious kind of
questions ever since in the celebrated style
of Glasgow football, largely unencumbered
by any pursuit and awkward questions from
the compliant press of that city who cannot
handle the idea that Rangers was after so
many years too corrupted to survive
liquidation.
Well, now it is time to get used to the truth
and reality so widely predicted and
investigated online and by those notable
journalists in broadcasting and papers
around Glasgow who bucked the trend. They
can all hold their heads high today after all
the years of abuse.
The succulent lamb just went off. The
stench will hang around Rangers for years to
come.
So a CVL (creditors’ voluntary liquidation) is,
the HMRC believes, a way of taking the
gloves off, and getting to grips with, the
former directors which a company voluntary
arrangement (CVA) could never have done,
in their view.
Getting away with it just became very, very
much more difficult for all the directors
involved with Rangers over the past 15 years
or so, and nobody – least of all Rangers
fans – can possibly do anything but welcome
that fact, whatever it means for the club.
Today HMRC said this: “A CVL is the
statutory process whereby a company’s
assets are realised by an insolvency
practitioner (the liquidator – BDO in this
case it seems) and paid out to its creditors.
If there is not enough to pay creditors in full
after the costs of the liquidation, they will
receive only a proportion of their claims.
The directors and employees of the
company play no part in the liquidation.”
Moreover, the actions across recent months
of administrators Duff & Phelps might well
now come under scrutiny. Given some of the
more bizarre twists and turns, it would be
astonishing if they did not.
The HMRC again: “Liquidators are required
by regulatory best practice to undertake a
certain minimum level of investigation into
the actions of the directors of the company
in the run up to its liquidation. These
investigations may reveal legal actions which
only liquidators can take whereby directors
can be ordered by the court to compensate
the company in respect of any wrongdoings
they may have committed during the pre-
liquidation period. If the liquidator
considers it economic to pursue such
actions he will do so. ”
Not only that. There are wide powers to
investigate and take actions against
directors including –
– Wrongful trading: directors can be
ordered to make a payment to the company
if they continue incurring debt at a time they
should reasonably have known the company
could not avoid going into liquidation.
– Transaction at an undervalue: where a
director has caused an asset to be
transferred to a connected party for less
than its true value at a time when the
company was insolvent, the asset can be
transferred back to the company or the
person benefitting can be ordered to
compensate the company. An example
would be a director buying his own
company car for £1.
– Preference: where a director has paid
someone with the intention of making them
better off in the event of a liquidation than
they would otherwise have been then they
can be ordered to pay compensation to the
company. An example would be a director
causing the company to pay a debt that he
had personally guaranteed so he would not
have to meet that debt himself when the
company goes into liquidation.
– Misfeasance: this covers a wide variety of
breaches of duty by directors. Duties of
directors are set out in the companies act
and include such matters as putting the
company’s interests first, and not taking
account of the director’s personal interests.
And just to top it off, under the liquidation
the liquidators also now have all kinds of
powers to get information from directors
and others with inside knowledge of the
football club, and they can use the courts to
do it if they have to.
Or to put it another way, Rangers directors
of the recent past can run from the
questions, if they like – but hiding would be
futile.
So the HMRC are pretty much where they
want to be in all this. And anyone who
believes that if you try to thwart the taxman,
they should come after you, will no doubt
agree.
Questions therefore for several Scottish
MSPs and First Minister Alex Salmond to
answer about their blatant political
interference with the HMRC – several MSPs
blatantly and publicly attempting to
pressure the taxman away from any
liquidation. I know from sources within
HMRC that basically all they managed to
achieve was to antagonise the taxman who
simply wanted everyone to play by the rules
and for there to be no special case, no
exceptions and no special pleadings.
At the time when Channel 4 News dared
question whether or not their actions might
not be counter-productive, given that
Holyrood has no powers over HMRC, the
hue and cry from said MSPs and Mr
Salmond’s minders was long and loud. I
wonder if they are re-examining their
actions today?
And then there’s the football side of things,
for Rangers did also masquerade as a
football club during the long years of
apparently being a casino. In immediate
terms –
1. Rangers will be banned from European
competition for three years.
2. Most of their players can and will leave in
the coming weeks often – many having no
doubt had enough of doing their bit on
wage cuts of up to 75 per cent.
3. The club still faces the Big Tax Case
tribunal decision laughingly due “soon after
Easter”, and on that the HMRC still have no
news, this could see Rangers face a further
tax bill of up to £70m in dues and penalties.
4. The Scottish Premier League will soon
run out of excuses to not report on its
investigation into alleged wrongful player
registration which, if the club is found guilty
as charged, could see the club losing much
of its silverware won over the past decade
or so.t
5. The liquidation makes it even more
difficult for both the Scottish Premier League
and its appeal body the Scottish Football
Association to readmit and license Rangers
to play in the Scottish Premier League.
6. Despite the Green consortium’s lofty
statements about buying the club’s assets,
there is no guarantee that they will in fact be
bought up as a job lot. There is no
guarantee about simply playing on at Ibrox.
There are, as things stand, few guarantees in
terms of the asset sale at all.
It is hard to see any way forward with any
kind of probity except starting a clean sheet
at the foot of the Third Division in Scotland
and playing their way back, thereby sending
a message across the sporting world, at
last, that some things matter more than
money – even in football.
And that is what many Rangers fans – for
so long ignored in all this and the people
most badly sold down the river by those
who “managed” their club – want to see
happen. To that extent they are the people,
the people who matter, and, unlike all their
directors, they did not walk away and they
will not.
Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
cardigan island running at southwell 610 maybe EBT money should be invested by?
Cheating czech! Blatant!
Predictable veiled threats from the usual suspects.
Paul67,
Greeting’s Oh Great Timlord,
Alas this will be last transmission to you. Operation: Wetbear has been completed. The timverse is free. As discussed, 6 million potatos have been deposited in your garden.
Until 2296 Great Timlord, when Operation: Moonbeamer commences, or unless I vacation in your timline again.
To Infinity & Backwards!!!
rotit j
“Rangers to re-form after creditors’ deal is rejected”
Yes, that’s the headline on the olllllllllllleeeeeeee BBC sport pages.
And who has written up this heartwarming story? None other than our old friends –
Alasdair Lamont and Chris McLaughlin.
So they will be “re-forming”. Sounds a lot nicer than “becoming extinct”, that I’ll grant you. I have become increasingly disappointed by the BBC, especially the Shortbread variety. Their continual cheerleading is pathetic and an insult to true football fans.
Meanwhile on twitter……….
Alex Thomson is giving the huns laldy. It is quite breathtaking to compare his approach with the slavish devotion we tend to get in Scotland. Without a few journalists worthy of the name, and the likes of this blog, who knows what excesses those in charge of the marble staircase would have continued to enjoy.
Dalziel on SSB there saying he was at Ibrokes and he met a hun who was crying, Did he film It on his phone, that would be great viewing on you tube.
cheerioscumbagsCSC
Samaras sets up Greece comeback.
Goal for Greece! Game on!
Am Ah the only wan..
Who thinks…
Say.. Noo, that B.D.O. has bin Summoned.. tae the table..
and. Ah am Told that They ur wan o they Implacable, Incorruptible..Honest as Awe Get oot.. Companies…
Whit wull happen if…
A Wee Land Speculater shows up at thur Door. and Maks an
Offer fur..
The G.A. ‘s Training Grun?
Offers.. SIX Million fur .. Murray Park. includin’ the auld Albion Race Track…?
And . jis then anither Real Estate Speculator Shows up.. and offers.. Five Million fur Ibrox Stadium..?
Could This Happen?
And..
If it did..
His Mr. Greenjeans factored this Possibility ..into his grandiose Plans?
There is Nae end tae the Possibilities that Kin and Probably wull Ensue Regarding. the G.A.’s Assets being pit oan the Choppin’ Block..
Fur. Efter awe. In a Liquidation Sale..
Everythin and Anythin. is Good tae go
And whit is tae stoap.. those Assets bein’ Sold Aff..
PIECEMEAL???
Folk could show up. bidding fur the Double Glazed windaes in the Ibrox Offices.. The Coffee Machine? The Pens and Pencils.. The Carpets?
the Marble Stair- Case?
The Trophies?
Ah suppose there may be some Scrap metal Value that could be Found In Those?
Like Ah said..
the Possibilities ur Endless..
Hmmmmmmmmm…
Ah am so lookin’ forward tae see if any of
MA . Wild Speculations…
Dae Come tae Pass..
Ah hope they Dae.
Kojo
Still, Laughin’
Howler from Cech,2-1 now.
EPL superstar keeper,tumshie.
Bada, who was making the threats?
VP-Goram saying clubs should be careful what they wish for,Keevins trots out the Sky deal blah,blah ,blah
INFORMATION ON CREDITORS’ AND SHAREHOLDERS’ MEETINGS
The creditors’ and shareholders’ meetings will still take place at Ibrox on Thursday but the results of those meetings will now be entirely academic given HMRC’s decision.
There will be two separate meetings taking place on Thursday, as follows:
Who can Attend
• All Creditors of the Company are entitled to attend this meeting.
• Letters have been issued to all creditors known to the Joint Administrators, providing formal written Notice of the Meetings.
• The known creditors consist solely of trade suppliers and those debenture holders who have agreed to forfeit the benefits granted under their debenture(s).
• Season Ticket Holders are no longer creditors of the Company following the completion of the 2011/12 season.
To lodge your claim
If you have already completed a Statement of Claim form, then you need do nothing further to lodge a claim.
If not already done so, please complete a Statement of Claim form, which can be found on the Rangers website, and return the form to the Joint Administrators by email to this address or by post to Duff & Phelps Ltd, 43-45 Portman Square, London, W1H 6LY.
To vote at the meeting without attendance
If you wish to cast a vote as a creditor at the meeting of creditors, but do not wish to attend, please complete and return the proxy from (which can be found on the Rangers website, within the CVA document). You may appoint another person to vote on your behalf or you may appoint the “chairman of the meeting” who will cast your vote as you indicate on the form.
To attend and vote at the meeting
If you wish to attend and vote at the meeting, you will need to:
• Ensure your statement of claim form has been submitted, as noted above.
• If the creditor is an individual will need to bring proof of identification and authority to attend the meeting.
• If the creditor is a company, the person attending will need to bring a proxy from signed on behalf of the company, proof that the individual is entitled to represent the company
• If the creditor is a Debenture holder, then in addition to the above the debenture certificate must also be provided.
Outcome of the meeting
• Given that HMRC are the largest single creditor and they have decided to reject the proposals, the outcome of the meeting is entirely academic
• Creditors may therefore deem it unnecessary to attend the meeting, which will now be no more than a formality
Shareholders Meeting – 13.00
The meeting is being called to satisfy the provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986. The sole business of the meeting is to vote on a single resolution. No other business will be conducted, no questions will be taken and therefore given the decision by HMRC to reject the proposal, it is expected that the meeting will last no longer than five minutes. If the creditors’ meeting rejects the CVA proposal, then this will bind the shareholders whether or not the meeting of shareholders approves the CVA (subject to a shareholder’s right to apply to court under section 4A(4) of the Insolvency Act 1986).
Who can attend
• All shareholders of the Company are entitled to vote at the meeting of shareholders.
• If you do wish to attend the meeting of shareholders in person: Please call the Ibrox Stadium ticket office on 0871 702 1972 (option 8) to apply for a Meeting Ticket.
What documentation is required
In order to access the meeting you must bring with you:
• Your Meeting Ticket;
• Your share certificate;
• Proof of identification;
• Access will be denied to persons who are not in possession of each of these items.
Outcome of the meeting
• Given that HMRC are the largest single creditor and they have decided to reject the proposals, the outcome of both meetings is entirely academic
• Shareholders may therefore deem it unnecessary to attend the meeting, which will now be no more than a formality
Gotta go
Seeya, Fellahs.
Kojo
And.. Still.. Laughin’
Four boys had a dream
To start up a football team
But they had no money, no kit, not even a ball
But they carried on
140 years on they appear to have come full circle…..
FROM RTC
The announcement that HMRC would oppose the CVA proposal for rescuing Rangers FC is just a few hours old, and I thought that a quick post was due. However, I do not have any new information. I just wanted to move this blog-page along.
As it starts to sink in that The Rangers Football Club plc is now destined to end in corporate failure and liquidation, the questions are coming thick and fast as to what happens next.
The simplest answer is that there are too many permutations to provide a certain path forward. HMRC had previously indicated that they would want Duff & Phelps replaced by BDO as liquidators. I expect that they will want ‘clean hands’ from this point on and that there will be fresh faces atop the marble staircase within a few days. However, it is possible that the liquidators will want to proceed with an asset sale to Green. Other bidders may emerge (or reemerge).
Given the tiny amounts that would be raised in a public fire-sale, it does appear that an asset sale to a newco is almost certain. So a new organisation purporting to represent the legacy of The Rangers Football Club plc will emerge. However, if they are to be playing in any league next season the asset sale will have to be unopposed. If there are legal challenges to a sale, we could see at least one season without any Rangers-type team.
The focus will soon turn to the SFA and the SPL. The ruling bodies of professional football in Scotland have the responsibility to determine whether a newco attempting to transfer Rangers’ league ‘share’ and SFA membership will be allowed to join the top flight of the Scottish game- and if so- when. What must be clear is that any organisation that has bought another club’s share / membership must also face the punishments that awaited the old club. To allow a newco-Rangers to ditch its legacy responsibilities will be to set an expectation that others can do likewise. The battleground is now going to shift and we can expect a massive effort to convince us that an SPL without Rangers would be unbearable.
cardigan island wins
This guy Green is a comedian.
We are nearly there Bhoys. So much will unravel in the next few months.
They will be gone in a few days. There will be years of legal battles over who owns what. Wee CW is not finished yet.
No SPL for them. Good night and good riddance.
!!Bada Bing!!
Talking to hun in work this afternoon
Me… that’s yooz liquidated.
Hun..that’s yooz playing in league with no competion(obviously a little less eloquently)
Me.. do you remember when you were cheating
and winning the league every year and you were loving it? well that will be us without the cheating .
Haha! Green says it’s not over yet and to lobby our MPs to get HMRC to change their minds before Thursday!!!!!!!!
Hahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa!