SPL may rule on Rangers before ‘big tax case’ is over

The Scottish Premier League might decide whether Rangers face disciplinary action over alleged undisclosed payments before the result of the ‘big tax case’, according to chief executive Neil Doncaster.

The SPL launched their investigation on March 5 and were until recently thought to be awaiting the outcome of the First Tier tax tribunal concerning Rangers. However, it emerged last week that the SPL’s lawyers had not received the documents requested from the club’s administrators.

Much of the pertinent information surrounding the investigation into Rangers’ Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) payments was revealed last week in a BBC documentary, which alleged there were more than 50 side letters detailing extra-contractual payments to players and staff. The SPL yesterday revealed that Rangers had provided documentation in relation to the probe and that their legal team would update the board on June 18.

And Doncaster last night revealed they would not necessarily wait until the tribunal’s verdict before making a decision.

Doncaster told the BBC’s Newsnight Scotland: “Certainly the full information will only emerge, I suspect, with the outcome of the big tax case. Ultimately, our board may have to take a decision prior to that whether they have sufficient information at that point to be able to conduct a disciplinary process. What the SPL board have made clear is that any such prosecution which arises from the investigation will be in front of a wholly independent panel made up of eminent lawyers without any association with any SPL club.”