Rangers offered ‘incentives’ in case against me, says Martin Bain

FORMER Rangers chief executive Martin Bain alleged yesterday that the club had “offered financial incentives” to people as it searched for a defence to his £1.3 million breach-of-contract claim.

Bain asked a judge to fix a full hearing as soon as possible because he was worried that the “parlous” financial state at Ibrox could worsen and nothing would be left in the pot to pay him any damages.

The judge, Lord Menzies, agreed to Bain’s request for an earliest possible date, fixing a three-week hearing to begin in July next year.

Bain was suspended in May after Craig Whyte assumed control at Ibrox by paying a nominal £1 to Sir David Murray. He subsequently resigned, deeming his contract to have been repudiated, and raised the damages action. Rangers responded by lodging a counter-claim, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty (a duty of honesty and trust that a director owes to a company) by Bain.

At a preliminary hearing last month, Bain secured an arrestment of £480,000 of the club’s assets as security for any award he might receive. He persuaded the court that there was a “real and substantial risk” of insolvency if HM Revenue and Customs won a case against Rangers involving some £49m.

The former financial director at Ibrox, Donald McIntyre, is also suing the club, and he won an order to freeze £300,000.

Yesterday, Nicholas Ellis, QC for Bain, said that his client wanted the case to proceed without delay, while Rangers had asked for a substantial continuation. “He is dubious about the motives of Rangers in trying to seek further substantial time… we are concerned it is simply a tactic to seek delay,” said Ellis.

“We know that Rangers have trawled about trying to find matters in relation to Mr Bain they can characterise as breaches of contract for a considerable time. Nothing has appeared yet in the pleadings. On our information, they have offered financial incentives for assistance in the case against Mr Bain. They have been going about this exercise for quite a long time… from early September.”

Alan Dewar, QC for Rangers, said the club had changed lawyers in the case after the arrestment hearing. He told the court: “Much of what has been said this morning is new material. I am not in a position to respond in detail to a number of things said, indeed to the vast majority of them.”

Lord Menzies said the first available three-week slot in the court’s diary was 24 July next year, although the situation could change, adding that it would also give Rangers time to adjust its pleadings.