Rangers takeover: ‘Only match-fixing’ a more serious breach

The Scottish Football Association judicial panel that handed Rangers a 12-month transfer embargo judged the club’s rule breaches second only to match-fixing in their seriousness.

The SFA yesterday published the 167-page rationale behind the decision as it named the three appeal panel members who will reconsider the case on Wednesday.

The appeal will be heard by serving judge Lord Carloway, former Partick Thistle chairman Allan Cowan and Spartans chairman Craig Graham, a partner at KPMG.

Rangers were also fined £160,000 after being found guilty of five charges relating to their financial affairs and the appointment of Craig Whyte as chairman. Rangers claimed they should not be held responsible for the actions of Whyte, but that defence was dismissed as having no legal basis given the established principle of corporate liability.

Furthermore, the panel concluded that directors and senior managers should have publicly raised concerns over the actions of Whyte, who presided over the non-payment of £13million in tax between May last year and February 14, when the club went into administration.

The panel’s report, written by Gary Allan QC, stated: “Only match fixing in its various forms might be a more serious breach. They brought the game into serious disrepute.

“In the case of the non payment of tax, which was possibly by the smallest margin the most serious breach, the massive extent of the failure and the intentional and calculated manner in which it was carried out aggravated the breach even further.”

The panel considered ending or suspending the club’s SFA membership but judged that sanction too severe.

The report noted Rangers felt they had been “duped and cheated by a director who had made false representations”. However, the panel felt directors and senior managers were “entirely aware” Whyte was engaged in a deliberate programme of non-payment of taxes and non-co-operation with auditors. They added that director Dave King “appears to have done little” about his exclusion from governance except repeat demands for information.

The report also noted that former directors John McClelland and John Greig were aware of rumours of non-payment of taxes.

The club’s long-serving financial controller, Ken Olverman, was told in September by Whyte that he was withholding taxes, which at that stage the club could have paid.

“Whyte stated to Mr Olverman that non payment of the sums due was a tactic or negotiating ploy intended to improve the position of Rangers FC in any attempted negotiation with HMRC of a settlement in ‘the Big Tax Case’,” the report read.

The panel summed up: “They could have made public the activities of Mr Craig Whyte of which they were aware or ought to have been aware.” They added that “directors and employees must have known that what was happening within Rangers FC was entirely wrong and illegitimate but they chose to do nothing to bring it to the attention of the public.

“That may be a matter for their long-term reflection but it does reduce the mitigatory impact of the suggestion that Rangers FC were innocent victims.”

The tribunal felt a 12-month embargo on registering players aged over 17 was just punishment.

“It appeared to the tribunal that, in a case such as this, the punishment should relate in some meaningful way to the unpaid taxes arising from high wages and salaries amongst certain players,” the report said.

The panel heard evidence from McClelland, Olverman, former chief executive Martin Bain and Rangers’ head of football administration Andrew Dickson. The report added that Olverman was contacted by tax officials in August about invoices discovered in the business records of Ticketus, who are owed almost £27million by Rangers.

The report stated that Olverman had no knowledge of the invoices and knew that no sums of money had been received from Ticketus in recent times. Olverman was later shown invoices but did not recognise them as having been issued by the club. The report stated: “He was of the view that it appeared as though Clip Art computer processes had been involved in their creation.”

Rangers manager Ally McCoist had controversially called for the original panel to be named, despite the club knowing their identities. Yesterday he said: “We just want transparency and clarity and I’m delighted that the appeals panel has been named.”