Football club owner investigated over £18m loan fraud Insolvency Service officials believe they have found clear evidence of fraud in the £18 million takeover of one of the country’s most decorated football clubs, reports the Daily Record.The investigation into Craig Whyte’s takeover of Glasgow Rangers has deepened as fraud investigators have found new evidence against the former football club owner.Officials from the Insolvency Service believe they have found clear evidence of fraud by the disgraced businessman and the investigators have been interviewing senior figures involved in the Ibrox deal.The probe is the surest sign yet that Mr Whyte will face criminal charges and a lifetime’s ban from being a company director.A source told the title: “The Insolvency Service are raking over every bit of paperwork they can find.“They have been in Scotland for a month or so and are working their way around anyone who may have any information about Whyte’s way of working.“The main issue is fraud – and they are taking it very seriously indeed.”The Insolvency Service, which is part of Business Secretary Vince Cable’s department, has wide-ranging powers to uncover “serious misconduct, fraud, scams or sharp practice” in the way a company operates.Senior club figures past and present have been interviewed or are expected to be interviewed in the coming week.The Insolvency Service is focusing on the £18 million which Mr Whyte used to buy Rangers.Mr Whyte, 42, had sold three years’ worth of season ticket sales rights to Octopus investments-backed finance house Ticketus to enable the deal.The investigation will also scrutinise Mr Whyte’s failure to disclose he had been barred from holding company directorships for seven years.The service has the power to apply to the courts for a lifetime ban on Mr Whyte ever being a director of any company in the British Isles. Mr Whyte bought previous owner Sir David Murray’s 85 per cent stake in Rangers for £1 in May 2011, though effectively funded his acquisition of the club through the Ticketus deal.He used the funds gained in order to clear the club’s £18 million debt with the Lloyds Banking group.Ticketus, commercially-backed by Octopus Investments, was awarded damages in April 2013 totalling £17.7 million and expenses of £680,000, but Mr Whyte has since lodged an appeal.Under company law, insolvency practitioners – in Rangers’ case Duff and Phelps – are required to report to the Secretary of State within six months of a firm going bust.Normally, these reports are routine, but in Mr Whyte’s case, high-level discussions have been held by Cable’s officials about whether criminal misconduct has occurred. As a result, the current investigation was launched.The title reported that Rangers said they had “no idea” about the Insolvency Service probe.Evidence of criminal behaviour unearthed by the Insolvency Service can be passed to prosecuting authorities in Scotland and London.A spokesman for the service said: “We have powers to investigate UK registered companies. On receipt of reports alleging matters of unfit conduct by the directors, the Secretary of State will decide whether it is in the public interest to commence an investigation with a view to seeking the disqualification of the directors.”The investigation is the latest headache for Mr Whyte who was also in the news two weeks ago when he was given two weeks to pay his mortgage arrears or risk losing his castle.Mr Whyte and his estranged wife Kim are named on the title deeds for Castle Grant near Grantown on Spey, which they purchased for £720,000 in 2008.He financed the purchase with a mortgage from Halifax Bank of Scotland, which has raised a civil action against him and his estranged wife over allegedly failing to pay ten monthly instalments on the loan.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:19:52 +0000
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