King’s demands over probe into MacLennan and Desmond rejected

THE Scottish Professional Football League has again come to the defence of its chairman Murdoch MacLennan by insisting he acted “impeccably” during his business links with a company connected to Celtic’s largest individual shareholder Dermot Desmond.

League chiefs were forced to respond after Rangers chairman Dave King reiterated his call for an investigation into MacLennan’s recent appointment as non-executive chairman of Independent News & Media Group (INM).

Desmond (below) is listed as a major shareholder in INM.

King made his initial demand for a probe on Tuesday, when he claimed MacLennan’s new role was a conflict on interest, before following it up on Wednesday with a statement which alleged MacLennan had not informed SPFL board members of the two Celtic shareholders’ interest in INM.

The SPFL — which quickly slapped down the Gers’ chiefs demandsonTuesday—hasnow followed up once more with a lengthy statement.

“Rather than attempt to communicate through the media, it is far more appropriate that any substantive issues are presented to the SPFL board for careful and detailed consideration, based on a sound legal analysis of the facts,”itsaid.

“In its statement of 29 May, Rangers FC claimed ‘a business relationship’, existed between the SPFL chairman and minority shareholders in a SPFL club, despite no evidence of such a relationship being presented. There is no mention of the previously claimed ‘business relationship’ inthe30Maystatement.

“In the 30 May statement, the central allegation has now become that ‘there was non-disclosure of the conflict that immediately arose when the SPFL chairman accepted’ his appointment as a non-executive director of International News & Media PLC (IN&M plc). As with the 29 May statement, no detail was provided to support this allegation.

“The existence of a conflict of interest and the steps to be taken where it arises in a company context are set out in the Companies Act 2006. There has been no attempt to explain the factual basis of the claim that a conflict of interest, or circumstances which might reasonably have been regarded as likely to give rise to a conflict of interest, had arisen.

“The facts are that minority shareholders in IN&M plc also hold minority shareholdings in Celtic plc, which in turn holds just over 2% of the shares in the SPFL.

“The chairman of the SPFL holding a non-executive position on the board of IN&M plc, does not constitute the basis for the existence of a conflict of interest or of circumstances which might reasonably have been regarded as