Court is told charges were a ‘disguise’
PROSECUTORS were yesterday accused of bringing criminal charges against a former Rangers administrator to “disguise” their lack of evidence against him.
David Whitehouse is suing the Lord Advocate – Scotland’s senior law officer – and former Police Scotland chief constable Phil Gormley for £9million over his “wrongful” prosecution.
Whitehouse and fellow administrator Paul Clark were arrested by police probing Craig Whyte’s 2011 takeover of Rangers and the club’s subsequent sale.
The pair appeared in the dock alongside Whyte and other accused on two separate petitions listing alleged financial crimes.
At the Court of Session in Edinburgh yesterday, Whitehouse’s lawyers accused prosecutors of “grossly exceeding their powers” and “going beyond errors of judgment”.
Heriot Currie QC alleged the Crown brought a second petition against Whitehouse, from Cheshire, in September 2015 to “disguise the fact there was no evidence for the first”.
He claimed the second petition was also served because the Lord Advocate “wanted to buy time”, despite “knowing full well there was no evidence to support the main charge”.
The court has been hearing legal arguments over Whitehouse and Clark’s actions.
Clark, 53, and Whitehouse, 52, of accountancy firm Duff & Phelps, were appointed as Rangers’ administrators in February 2012.
They were cleared of any wrongdoing months before Whyte went on trial for fraud and was subsequently cleared last year.
Clark, of Surrey, is seeking more than £5million in damages.
The hearing before judge Lord Malcolm continues.