Breaking News: Rangers may be docked 10-points for Match-Fixing paving way for Hoops to win SPFL Title

Breaking News: Rangers may be docked 10-points for Match-Fixing paving way for Hoops to win SPFL Title

The SFA published the 167-page rationale for the judgment Tuesday,

along with the names of the three appeal panel members who will hear the matter again on Wednesday.

The appeal will be considered by serving judge Lord Carloway, former Partick Thistle chairman Allan Cowan,

and Spartans chairman Craig Graham, a KPMG partner.

Rangers were also fined £160,000 after being found guilty of five crimes including their financial issues and the appointment of Craig Whyte as chairman.

Rangers claimed they should not be held liable for Whyte’s acts,

but that argument was rejected as having no legal basis given the established principle of corporate liability.

Furthermore, the panel ruled that directors and senior managers should have publicly expressed their worries about Whyte’s activities,

which presided over the club’s failure to pay £13 million in tax between May of last year and February 14, when it went into administration.

The panel’s report, written by Gary Allan QC, stated:

“Only match fixing in its different forms may constitute a more serious infringement. They have plunged the game into terrible 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 tribunal contemplated terminating or suspending the club’s SFA membership, but decided the consequence was too severe.

According to the investigation, Rangers believed they had been “duped and cheated by a director who had made false representations”.

However, the panel believed directors and top managers were “completely aware” that Whyte was engaged in a systematic strategy of tax evasion and non-cooperation with auditors.

They stated that director Dave King “appears to have done little” about his absence from governance,

other than make repeated requests for information.

The investigation also said that former directors John McClelland and John Greig were aware of suspicions of tax evasion.

Whyte informed the club’s long-serving finance controller, Ken Olverman, in September that he was withholding taxes that might have been paid by the club at the time.

“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 went on to say.

The members of the panel concluded: “They could have made public the activities of Mr Craig Whyte of which they were aware or ought to have been aware.”

They stated, “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 believed a 12-month ban on registering players over the age of 17 was appropriate 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,” according to the report.

McClelland, Olverman, previous Chief Executive Martin Bain,

and Rangers’ Head of Football Administration Andrew Dickson all testified before the panel. According to the article,

Olverman was informed by tax inspectors in August regarding bills uncovered in Ticketus’ corporate records,

for which Rangers owe nearly £27 million.

According to the investigation, Olverman had no knowledge of the invoices and was aware that no recent payments had been received from Ticketus.

Olverman was later shown bills, but he did not recognise them as club-issued. The article went on to say:

“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 requested that the initial panel members be named,

despite the fact that the club was aware of their names. Yesterday he made the following statement:

“We just want transparency and clarity and I’m delighted that the appeals panel has been named.”

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