GERSFELLAS
»»King tells court four Ibrox shareholders have links to organised crime & money laundering »»He claims firm BNL, who also owned shares, were allegedly involved in criminality in the US
FOUR Rangers shareholders have links to organised crime, club chairman Dave King said yesterday. The revelation was made during a court hearing where he agreed to make a buyout offer to shareholders. King said anti-money laundering laws would prevent the four people from selling their stakes. He also claimed a firm called BNL, who own Rangers shares, were involved in alleged criminality in the US.
DAVE King revealed yesterday that four people “linked to organised crime and money laundering” had bought into Rangers. The Ibrox club’s chairman divulged the crime ties before agreeing to offer up to £19million of his own money to buy out shareholders by January 25. A court had previously ordered him to mount a potential buyout. It came after the Takeover Panel had ruled King worked “in consort” with a trio of businessmen to take control of Rangers by acquiring a combined 34 per cent stake. That breached the 30 per cent barrier triggering a mandatory buyout offer. The South African-based businessman, 63, explained in court yesterday how various large shareholders had agreed not to take up the invitation to sell him their stock. He then outlined how four individuals holding shares were prevented from selling them due to antimoney laundering laws. The matter had been discussed at a Rangers board meeting on Monday, the Court of Session in Edinburgh heard. King said it had been left as “opaque as possible” who the “underlying beneficiaries of these shareholdings” are. The identities of the four weren’t disclosed in court, nor how long they had held their shares. Giving evidence, he also told how a firm owning Rangers shares called BNL had been involved in alleged criminality in the US. He added: “There was intervention by the authorities and they have been put into administration.”
Following negotiations with the Takeover Panel during the lunchbreak, King signed an undertaking to offer a buyout.
He agreed to finalise the share deal by next month and told judge Lady Wolffe he was “100 per cent” ready to make the offer.
But the entrepreneur said he didn’t expect the offer to trigger a large-scale sale of shares to him.
Some of the shares are held in small amounts by thousands of fans, who King felt wouldn’t sell as they “just want to own part of the club”.
King appeared for the hearing yesterday to decide if he was in contempt of court for failing to make the legally mandated offer.
On Thursday, Christopher Jillings of the Takeover Panel told the court King had chosen not to hire advisers who know the takeover code or nominate a “cash confirmer” to ringfence the money which may be needed to pay shareholders.
Under the signed undertaking, King agreed to find a cash confirmer in the UK and an expert legal adviser by December 14.
He pledged to engage with the South African exchange control authorities to have the funds moved to the UK by January 11 and offer the Rangers share deal by 5.30pm on January 25.
Lady Wolffe set a hearing for February 4 to check whether the undertaking had been complied with.