Duff & Phelps cleared of misconduct over Rangers

THE administrators of Rangers, Duff & Phelps, have been cleared of misconduct charges and a conflict of interest in their involvement in the club before its slide into liquidation.

Duff & Phelps administrators David Whitehouse and Paul Clark. Picture: Robert Perry

The Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) found that joint administrators David Whitehouse and Paul Clark did not have a “primie facie” case to answer in relation to a misconduct charge.

The IPA had received complaints that Duff & Phelps had broke the organisation’s code of ethics as David Grier, a corporate finance partner at Duff & Phelps, gave financial advice to Rangers oldco owner Craig Whyte during and after his takeover of the Ibrox club.

Duff & Phelps were appointed administrators of Rangers last year before a CVA to creditors was declined and the club was liquidated.

The administrators then facilitated the sale the club’s assets to a consortium led to Charles Green.

A letter sent to those who had raised complaints against Mr Clark and Mr Whyte said that the two had not acted inappropriately when accepting the appointment in the administration of Rangers.

It read: “At worst it was considered that Messrs Clark and Whitehouse failed to fully consider and manage the public perception of a conflict of interest.”

The letter also stated that the IPA looked into other aspects of the insolvency process including a £500,000 fee quotation given to Craig Whyte before the club went into administration - the final administration fee cost is reportedly £2.7m.

The IPA said in its letter that its quotation was provided on a different basis to the actual work carried out.

The sale of Rangers to Green remains controversial with Craig Whyte claiming that he still has a stake in the assets of the club having come to an agreement to form a new company (Sevco 5088) with Green and have the assets transferred over.

Whyte contests that a new company (Sevco Scotland) was formed and that the assets were transferred over without his knowledge.

Rangers largest shareholder Charles Green, who resigned his chief executive position following racism claims, disputes Whyte’s claims.

An internal inquiry is currently being carried out by the Ibrox board into Green’s links with Whyte with the SFA awaiting the outcome before deciding if the sale infringes on the club’s membership conditions.