Who did you hire to check on Craig Whyte?

THE Murray Group sold Rangers after failing to carry out professional checks on Craig Whyte – and expecting the media to help uncover his background.

Yesterday, the High Court in Glasgow heard how the Ibrox club hired consultants and lawyers for other work but didn’t pay anyone to do due diligence before the sale.

It also emerged during the Craig Whyte trial – now in its ninth day – that terms were included in the purchase ageement designed to safeguard Sir David Murray’s “legacy”.

Former Murray Group and Rangers board member Mike McGill also gave evidence that the employment benefit trusts used by Rangers were a “tax avoidance” scheme.

And he said the EBTs – which left the club exposed to a potentially ruinous tax bill – were instigated when Sir David Murray was chairman of the board.

Donald Findlay QC, defending Whyte, put it to former Murray Group finance director McGill: “You did due diligence on Mr Whyte?”

McGill, 49, said: “We were able to do very limited due diligence on Mr Whyte.”

Findlay said there are firms who specialise in the field and asked: “Who did you hire to do due diligence on Mr Whyte?”

McGill said: “We did not.”

Referring to specialists and consultants hired by the club for other matters, Findlay said: “You hired Price Waterhouse, you hired all sorts of people.

“Here is a man who’s coming along to buy out not a company, not a business, but a Scottish institution. You didn’t do due diligence – you didn’t do any diligence?”

McGill said: “It’s not that we did no diligence – the diligence we did do was to make sure Mr Whyte was not presently disqualified from being a director.”

Rangers and the Murray Group had tried to find out information on Whyte’s background, McGill said.

And he added: “There were very few members of the press who were not going to do lots of investigative work to discover who he was. Not that we were relying on