Police ‘smokescreen’ in £9million Rangers case
Duff & Phelps man slams force
POLICE were accused yesterday of “setting up a smokescreen” to hinder a £9million legal claim by a former Rangers administrator.
David Whitehouse, 52, is suing Police Scotland and the country’s most senior lawmaker, Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC.
He claims his detention and arrest by police probing Craig Whyte’s 2011 takeover of Rangers was “wrongful” and hurt his reputation.
Lawyers for Whitehouse were next week set to present a summary decree case, arguing a judge should rule in his favour without hearing evidence. But the police’s lawyers said they were still wading through documents and holding the hearing would be “prejudicial” while this review was incomplete.
Whitehouse’s lawyer Heriot Currie said it was a “clear example of the defender setting up a smokescreen”.
The QC said the case hinged on whether police had “reasonable grounds” to arrest Whitehouse and if there was “sufficient evidence to justify trial”.
At the hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, judge Lord Malcolm ruled in the force’s favour and said the summary decree arguments could be heard in May.
Whitehouse and Paul Clark, of accountants Duff & Phelps, were appointed as Rangers’ administrators when the Ibrox club collapsed in February 2012.
Charges against them relating to the subsequent sale to Charles Green’s consortium were dropped in June 2016.
Whitehouse’s action was raised in the name of former chief constable Phil Gormley.