Rangers fight Imran Ahmad over online leak fear

Imran Ahmad is bidding to have two secret contracts handed over to him. Picture: SNS

Ahmad is suing the Ibrox outfit for a £500,000 bonus he claims he is due for helping to set up £10million agreements with sportswear giants Puma and retailer Sports Direct. But the League 1 champions are fighting the action and claim the contracts should stay private because they are commercially sensitive.

Ahmad was sacked last April after he was accused of leaking confidential club documents on a supporters’ forum – a claim he denies. He argues he is due five per cent of any contracts he negotiated during his time as commercial director and has presented a letter from former chief executive Charles Green backing his claim.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Ahmad was granted access to a number of documents. Rangers were ordered to hand over files relating to the purchase of the Albion car park – which Ahmad claims to have negotiated – financial projections for the Puma and Sports Direct deals and accounts for the period covered by Ahmad’s time at Ibrox.

Ahmad, left, with Charles Green. Picture: PA

Emails sent to and from the former Zeus Capital managing director’s account will be given to a third-party commissioner to “sift” through before relevant messages are then passed to Ahmad’s legal team.

However, both parties will have to return to court on 13 May to argue over whether the Puma and Sport Direct deals should be released. Alan Summers QC, representing Rangers, told Lord Woolman: “There is an unnatural fascination with all things Rangers and there is a market for information that relates to it and its internal workings.”

But Ahmad’s counsel, Kenny McBrearty QC, dismissed those fears. “The concern of the defenders relating to the release of these documents is that the pursuer will then put them into the public domain,” he said. “That is a suspicion and a suspicion only.”

A full four-day hearing will take place in either November of this year or February 2015.